The UK's second biggest brick maker, Ibstock, is to make up to 136 redundancies as the continued housing slump forces it to close two plants and mothball a third. The firm is to close its factories in Roughdales, in Merseyside, and Funton, in Kent. Its factory in Ellistown, Leicester, will be closed temporarily, but may restart production in the future. Ibstock's closures follow similar moves by rivals Hanson and Wienerberger earlier this year. Wienerberger this week confirmed it was taking two further plants in County Durham and Kidderminster out of operation until 2009. Last week, industry experts warned that brick output would fall below 2 billion for 2008 for what is believed to be the first time since the Second World War, with brick makers estimating sales may drop to 1.6 billion for the next year.
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