The original Leicestershire + Rutland Society of Architects (LRSA) trail was established in Leicester in 1984, marking a significant milestone in the city's history. Ibstock played a key role in this project by creating the plaques that would line the trail. Over the past 40 years, however, many of these original plaques have been lost due to ongoing redevelopment in the city. As Leicester's landscape has evolved, the plaques that once marked the trail have gradually disappeared, making the preservation of this important part of the city’s heritage increasingly challenging. The trail's purpose was to offer people a route to explore Leicester, providing them the opportunity to stand beneath one of the plaques and enjoy scenic viewpoints of the city.

Since Ibstock was the original creator of the plaques, the LRSA reached out to the company for help in recovering them. Remarkably, two Ibstock employees, Nigel Turner and Andrew Stanley, who had originally crafted the plaques in 1984, were still working at the company. This gave them the unique advantage of being able to locate the original mould used for the plaques. Unfortunately, the mould had been damaged and was no longer usable. As a result, Nigel and Andrew were tasked with creating a new mould to produce the plaques.