B&Q has added a brick described as the world’s most sustainable to its online marketplace, making a low-carbon construction material previously used mainly on commercial projects available to UK consumers for the first time.
Kenoteq
The product in question is the K-Briq, developed by Scottish cleantech firm Kenoteq, and its arrival on B&Q’s website marks a notable step in the retailer’s wider push to bring lower-impact building materials into the mainstream DIY market.
A Brick Designed to Tackle Construction Waste
The K-Briq was developed to address one of the construction sector’s biggest environmental problems, i.e., waste. For example, government figures show that construction, demolition and excavation activities generate around 62 million tonnes of waste each year in the UK, accounting for well over half of all waste produced nationally.
A Resource
Kenoteq’s approach is to treat much of that material not as waste, but as a resource. For example, the company says each K-Briq is made using more than 95 per cent recycled construction and demolition material, including crushed masonry, plasterboard and other site waste that would otherwise be sent to landfill.
Made Using Hydraulic Compression and Cured
Unlike traditional clay bricks, which are typically fired in kilns at temperatures of around 1,000 degrees Celsius, the K-Briq is formed using hydraulic compression and then cured rather than fired. This process dramatically reduces energy use during manufacture. Kenoteq has previously said the brick produces up to 90 per cent less embodied carbon than a conventional fired brick, a claim that has helped position it as a flagship low-carbon alternative in a carbon-intensive industry.
From Commercial Projects to DIY Shelves
Until now, K-Briqs have largely been specified for commercial developments, architectural projects and temporary installations, including high-profile festival structures and demonstration buildings. Interest from architects and designers has played a significant role in the product’s wider visibility, particularly among professionals looking to reduce the embodied carbon of their projects.
According to Kenoteq, that professional interest has increasingly spilled over into the domestic market. For example, architects and designers who specified the bricks at work began asking for the same product for home renovations, garden walls and landscaping projects.
Sam Chapman, co-founder and executive director of Kenoteq, has previously explained the shift in demand, saying: “We’ve seen a remarkable change in recent months. Architects and designers who’ve specified K-Briqs for major commercial projects are now incorporating our bricks into their personal renovations and garden designs. This organic demand showed us that the consumer market is ready for a truly sustainable building material.”
B&Q’s decision to list the product online appears to reflect that change, effectively removing one of the remaining barriers to adoption, i.e., availability.
Certification and Performance Credentials
One of the reasons the K-Briq has gained so much traction beyond pilot projects is certification. In May this year, the brick received certification from the British Board of Agrément (BBA), a key benchmark for construction products used in the UK.
BBA certification assesses safety, durability and fitness for purpose, and is often essential for materials to be specified in mainstream building projects. For a product built from recycled waste and produced using an unconventional manufacturing process, that approval is significant.
At the time of certification, Chapman said the assessment showed that environmental performance and technical standards did not need to be in conflict. “The construction industry is under increasing pressure to reduce its environmental impact while maintaining high standards of quality and safety. The BBA certification of the K-Briq demonstrates that these goals are not mutually exclusive.”
For B&Q customers, it is likely that the certification could provide some reassurance that the brick can be used in real-world projects, rather than being limited to experimental or decorative applications.
How the Listing Fits B&Q’s Sustainability Strategy
The K-Briq joins B&Q’s online range as part of a broader strategy from B&Q to highlight products that reduce environmental impact across home improvement, building and gardening categories.
B&Q uses its “Green Star” labelling system to identify products that meet specific sustainability criteria, developed in partnership with sustainability charity Bioregional. These criteria focus on areas such as responsible sourcing, lower embodied carbon, reduced toxicity and energy-saving performance.
The retailer has publicly stated that it wants to make it easier for customers to choose lower-impact options without needing specialist knowledge. In a previous sustainability statement, B&Q said its aim is to “help customers live more sustainably at home by offering products that reduce environmental impact while remaining affordable and practical.”
That approach has already seen B&Q remove peat from its own-brand compost range, expand its selection of low-VOC paints, and commit to responsibly sourced timber certified under FSC or PEFC schemes. Adding a low-carbon brick seems to extend that thinking into the structural materials category, which has traditionally been harder to decarbonise.
Why Bricks Matter for Net Zero
Bricks may seem an unlikely focus for sustainability headlines, but their impact is actually quite substantial. For example, the UK produces an estimated 2.5 billion clay bricks each year, with brick manufacturing responsible for millions of tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually. Firing bricks is energy-intensive, and most kilns still rely heavily on fossil fuels.
As pressure grows on the built environment to align with the UK’s net zero targets, embodied carbon is receiving far more attention. Embodied carbon refers to the emissions associated with producing, transporting and installing materials, as opposed to operational emissions from heating or lighting a building.
Low-carbon alternatives such as the K-Briq directly target this problem by reducing emissions at the manufacturing stage. While such products alone will not decarbonise construction, they form part of a broader shift towards circular economy principles, where materials are reused and waste is designed out of the system.
Growing Momentum Across the Sector
The timing of B&Q’s move also aligns with wider developments in the construction industry. For example, back in October, the Construction Industry Council formally approved a new British Standard, the Competence Framework for Sustainability in the Built Environment. The framework is intended to embed sustainability knowledge and accountability across planning, design and construction roles.
Industry figures involved in drafting the framework have described it as a necessary step towards making sustainability measurable and consistent across the sector, rather than an optional extra. Products like the K-Briq sit squarely within that context, offering practical ways to translate sustainability commitments into material choices.
Kenoteq itself was spun out of Heriot-Watt University, reflecting the growing role of academic research in driving commercially viable low-carbon construction solutions.
Mainstream Access Rather Than Niche Adoption
By listing the K-Briq on its website, B&Q is effectively testing whether demand for sustainable construction materials extends beyond early adopters and design professionals. The retailer’s national reach and strong DIY customer base make it a significant distribution channel, particularly for home and garden projects that fall outside the scope of large developers.
For Kenoteq, the listing represents a shift from niche specification to mainstream retail exposure. For B&Q, it offers a high-profile example of how sustainability credentials can be applied not just to finishes and furnishings, but to the core materials used to build and shape homes.
The move does not solve the construction sector’s carbon challenge on its own, but it does signal a growing willingness among major retailers to back alternative materials and make them accessible to a wider audience, at a time when both regulation and public expectations around sustainability continue to tighten.
Not Just Kenoteq
It should be noted here that Kenoteq is not the only company attempting to reduce the environmental impact of fundamental construction materials, although examples that have reached mainstream retail remain relatively limited.
Across the UK construction supply chain, several manufacturers have introduced lower-carbon alternatives to traditional bricks, blocks and concrete products, often focused on reducing embodied carbon rather than eliminating it entirely.
For example, Lignacite produces concrete blocks using up to 70 per cent recycled aggregate and has invested heavily in reducing cement content, one of the largest sources of emissions in concrete manufacturing. Its products are commonly stocked by national builders’ merchants rather than consumer DIY retailers.
Forterra, one of the UK’s largest brickmakers, has also launched lower-carbon brick and block ranges that incorporate recycled content and improved kiln efficiency. While these products still rely on firing, Forterra has reported double-digit percentage reductions in embodied carbon compared with its older product lines.
Concrete producers have also begun targeting embodied emissions more directly. For example, Cemex markets its Vertua low-carbon concrete range in the UK, which uses alternative binders and optimised mix designs to cut emissions by between 30 and 70 per cent depending on specification. Similar products are offered by Aggregate Industries, which supplies low-carbon concrete and aggregate blends for both infrastructure and building projects.
On the retail side, availability is more uneven. Builders’ merchants such as Travis Perkins and Jewson stock a growing number of recycled-content blocks, low-carbon cement alternatives and responsibly sourced timber products, largely aimed at trade customers rather than casual DIYers.
Mainstream DIY retailers have tended to focus first on visible sustainability wins such as peat-free compost, certified timber and low-VOC paints. Wickes, for instance, has expanded its ranges of responsibly sourced timber and insulation products designed to improve home energy efficiency, but has so far made fewer structural low-carbon materials available to consumers.
Against that backdrop, B&Q’s decision to list a near-fully recycled, non-fired brick is notable not because alternatives do not exist, but because few have been made easily accessible to non-trade customers. Most low-carbon structural materials remain concentrated in professional supply chains, specified by architects and contractors rather than chosen directly by householders.
That context helps explain why the K-Briq’s arrival on a mass-market retail platform has attracted attention. It represents one of the clearer examples of a genuinely low-carbon construction material moving beyond specialist projects and into a setting where sustainability choices are made by everyday consumers rather than procurement teams.
What Does This Mean For Your Organisation?
The decision to make a near fully recycled, non-fired brick available through a major DIY retailer is a practical signal that low-carbon construction materials are beginning to move from specialist specification into everyday purchasing decisions. This is less about a single product launch and more about how sustainability is starting to influence the basic materials people use to build, extend and improve homes.
For UK businesses across construction, design and property, the move reflects a changing commercial environment. Embodied carbon is becoming harder to ignore, not just because of regulation and net zero commitments, but because clients are increasingly asking direct questions about material choices. Products such as the K-Briq, therefore, offer businesses a way to respond with something tangible, certified and already available through familiar supply channels, rather than relying on bespoke solutions or untested alternatives.
Retailers also have a clear stake in this shift. B&Q’s listing suggests that sustainability is no longer confined to finishes and lifestyle products, but is beginning to shape decisions around structural materials that sit at the heart of building projects. That carries implications for supply chains, product ranges and how environmental credentials are communicated to customers who may not have technical expertise but still want to make informed choices.
For manufacturers and innovators, the development highlights the importance of credibility and scalability. Certification, performance data and compatibility with existing building practices appear to be decisive factors in whether low-carbon materials can move beyond pilot schemes and into wider adoption. The K-Briq’s progression from university research to commercial projects and now mass market retail illustrates that pathway clearly.
Taken together, the listing underlines a broader recalibration taking place across the built environment. Sustainability is increasingly being judged not by ambition alone, but by whether lower-impact materials can be made accessible, affordable and usable at scale. How far and how fast that transition goes will depend on cost, demand and policy pressure, but the direction of travel is becoming harder for businesses and other stakeholders to dismiss.