Reclaimed Brick Company has taken a significant step forward in the UK salvage and reuse sector by becoming a member of Truly Reclaimed — the certification and transparency scheme for genuine reclaimed building materials. This marks an important moment for both the company and the wider reclamation community, reinforcing commitments to authenticity, provenance, and sustainable building practices.
What is Truly Reclaimed?
Truly Reclaimed was developed by Salvo, a long-established advocate for architectural salvage and reuse, as a means to distinguish real reclaimed and salvaged materials from reproduction or “reclaimed-look” products. The label provides transparency around the material’s journey — from original building, through salvage and processing, to final reuse — frequently using a QR code that buyers or end-users can scan to view provenance, environmental impact, and the history of the piece.
Membership in Truly Reclaimed therefore signals that a supplier adheres to high standards of traceability, authenticity, and environmental responsibility.
Why This Matters: Raising the Bar for Authentic Reuse
By joining Truly Reclaimed, Reclaimed Brick Company commits to offering bricks and materials whose origins, salvage history, and reuse credentials are clearly documented and verifiable. In a market where “reclaimed style” is often emulated with new materials, this helps ensure that customers seeking genuine reclaimed bricks can trust what they are purchasing.
This move helps address concerns around “green-washing” — when new materials are marketed as reclaimed — by creating a clear distinction between authentic reclaimed inventory and reproduction look-alikes.
Reinforcing Environmental and Heritage Values
Reclaimed bricks are already valued for their sustainability credentials: they save embodied carbon by avoiding the energy-intensive process of new brick manufacture, reduce demand for raw clay extraction, and save materials from landfill.
Moreover, reclaimed bricks retain their historic character — worn textures, weathering, subtle variations — which add unique aesthetic and heritage value that simply can’t be replicated with new bricks.
By affiliating with Truly Reclaimed, Reclaimed Brick Company strengthens the case for reuse not only on environmental grounds, but as a practice rooted in honesty, provenance, and respect for architectural heritage.
What This Means for Builders, Designers, and Clients
For architects, developers, restoration specialists and homeowners alike, this membership offers:
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Proof of provenance — Documentation and traceability make it easier to specify reclaimed materials with confidence.
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Authenticity assurance — Buyers know the bricks are genuinely salvaged, not new bricks designed to look old.
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Sustainability credentials — Incorporating Truly Reclaimed materials helps reduce embodied carbon, supports circular economy goals, and aligns with sustainable building practices.
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Aesthetic & heritage integrity — Genuine reclaimed bricks preserve the character and patina of historic materials — valuable in heritage, retrofit, and design-led projects.
A Signal for the Wider Reuse Sector
Reclaimed Brick Company’s decision to join Truly Reclaimed sends a strong signal to the wider salvage and construction sectors that authenticity, transparency and sustainability are priorities. As demand grows for low-carbon, reuse-embedded construction, the move may encourage other suppliers to follow suit.
The expanding network of Truly Reclaimed-certified suppliers helps build a more trustworthy and visible reuse marketplace — one where materials with genuine histories are valued, documented, and reused, rather than discarded or downcycled.
