Important Tool for Designers Provides Cradle-to-Grave Assessment

The Brick Industry Association (BIA) announces a new Industry Average Environmental Product Declaration (IA EPD) for clay masonry products including clay brick, structural clay tile, thin brick and clay brick pavers.

The 2025 Clay Masonry Products Industry Average EPD expands the scope of BIA’s 2020 EPD to a cradle-to-grave assessment. It covers the entire life cycle of clay brick masonry from manufacturing to end-of-life to showcase brick’s longevity and durability. Notably, there is little to no environmental impact during the maintenance and use stage.

The EPD provides designers with the necessary information to meet project-specific sustainability goals or building LCA requirements.

“As designers increasingly look to incorporate sustainability and resilience into their projects, the IA EPD is an important tool for demonstrating compliance with green codes, programs and rating systems such as LEED,” said BIA President and CEO Tricia Mauer.

The new EPD establishes a reference service life of 150 years for clay brick masonry—double the typical 75-year estimated service life used for evaluating general buildings. This extended service life expresses the ability to adaptively reuse brick buildings and to use reclaimed brick masonry for new projects. Additionally, no replacement cycle is needed within the 75-year estimated service life, nor the 150-year reference life.

Two BIA documents for designers that detail how brick can contribute to specific rating system credits include:

• Brick Brief: LEED v5 Credits and Clay Brick Masonry
• Brick Brief: LEED v4 Building Product Disclosure Credits for Brick

The EPD uses data from 29 facilities representing a wide range of brick manufacturers, totaling 39.3% coverage of the total U.S. brick production in 2023.

Participating BIA members include Acme Brick Company, The Belden Brick Company, Bowerston Shale Company, Endicott Clay Products Co., General Shale Brick, Glen-Gery Corporation, Hebron Brick Company, H.C. Muddox, Interstate Brick, King Klinker Thin Brick, McAvoy Brick Co., Morin Brick Company, Pacific Clay Products, Inc., Pine Hall Brick Company, Statesville Brick Company, Stiles and Hart Brick Company, Summit Brick Company, Triangle Brick Company, Whitacre Greer and Yankee Hill Brick.

Questions: Akia Weaver: aweaver@bia.org.

BIA is the nationally recognized authority on clay brick construction representing the nation’s distributors and manufacturers of clay brick and suppliers of related products. Gobrick.com 703-620-0010.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251201966232/en/

"As designers increasingly look to incorporate sustainability and resilience into their projects, the IA EPD is an important tool for demonstrating compliance with green codes, programs and rating systems such as LEED."