Last night saw the crowning of the 2018 Brick Awards winners, a ceremony that for 42 years has celebrated the best use of brick in the built environment.
Projects of the highest calibre are routinely entered by architects and contractors and this year was no exception. The title of Supreme Winner fell to the exemplary Storey’s Field Community Centre & Nursery in Cambridge. Designed by architects MUMA, this outstanding community facility also won the Public and Outdoor Space categories.
The Storey’s Field Community Centre and Nursery serves the new community of Eddington on the North West Cambridge Development. The 100-place Nursery is arranged around three sides of a landscaped courtyard. The courtyard is contained by a brick paved cloister and provides a sheltered play garden for the Nursery children, solving the need for security without fences. On the fourth side, the civic scaled Community Centre, addresses the new local centre. The project bowled over judges with its playful use of brick and stunning attention to detail, finish and form.
Andrew Taylor, 2018 Brick Award Judge said,
“Story’s Field has created a heart for the new development at North West Cambridge. The attention to detailing both inside the building and outside, including the outside courtyard area, is breath-taking and is far in excess of what is normally seen in public community buildings- a fantastic resource for the community.”
The task of shortlisting fell to a panel of experienced architects, planners, specialist brickwork contractors, developers and other design and brick experts, who produced a final shortlist of 108 entries. Domestic projects were then visited and reported back to the judging panel as whole for debate.
Click here to view the 2018 judging panel.
Hillary Satchwell, Brick Awards Head Judge 2018 said,
“What really impressed me about the winners was the quality and consistency of the buildings and the way brick wasn’t just incidental but at the heart of what they are doing and how they work in their surroundings.”
“I was really pleased to see great buildings in all areas of the country and particularly working with very different budgets, as winners. We need to be able to design and build things well in all locations and with all types of challenges. This list of winners really isn’t just about shiny things with huge budgets!”
“These are buildings that aren’t just designed well but they are also built well. These winners are great demonstrations of what can be achieved and set the bar high for others.”
Found among the winners is Red House, which picked up the award for Individual Housing Project. This development lives up to its name and is a magnificent addition to the terrace lined street it’s located on, matching red brick and red mortar to become a statement property and a delight to behold. In the larger residential categories Gospel Oak Infill Housing won the prize for Small Housing Development and the award for Large Housing Development was collected by Royal Albert Wharf. Gospel Oak Infill Housing is a small project of five new homes in Camden and is an inspiring example of a local authority enhancing their housing stock and significantly improving the urban realm through the development of carefully designed schemes on under-used plots of their own land. The larger Royal Albert Wharf seeks to enhance the East Beckton community by delivering an integrated, high quality and sustainable residential led, mixed use development, using a variety brick to successfully break up the massing.
Claiming the prize for Innovation was Coate St a house built on a narrow plot completed with a unique mix-material façade. Blending glazed brick and polished stainless steel, Coate St is a unique property that not only stands out but complements the varied language of the Kennington street on which it sits. Fusion Brickwork was crowned winner of the Craftsmanship category for their incredible attention to detail on Harpsden Wood House in Henley. The privately owned property has become a labour of love for the owner and the brickwork is an impressive demonstration of the preservation of true craft.
This year’s judges were highly impressed with the winner of the Education category, Marlborough Primary School. The project creates an inclusive and inspiring 21st Century learning environment and replaces a Victorian school which had stood on the site since 1878. The masonry detailing on the school was developed to evoke the massing and solidity of Victorian architecture with the expressed brick reveals, rooftop playground walls, deep brick soffits and characteristic stone banding all serving to convey an impression of solidity and permanence.
The Worldwide category of the Brick Awards is always a hotly contested category with entries from all over the globe and projects in the UK not using British brick. This year saw APT no 7 in Iran crowned winner with its intricate built-on-site brick façade. Alongside this, Rwanda Cricket Stadium was commended for its playful ‘bouncing’ roof.
Winners in full below
Although all worthy winners, the real success of the 2018 Brick Awards was the strength of the shortlist, proving that time and again brick fulfils its role as a certain, robust choice in design and build. This year saw more innovative approaches to the material and even more stunning results, not only championing the familiarity of brick but also the opportunity to use it in unique, forward-thinking ways.
Individual Housing Development
Red House
Small Housing Development
Gospel Oak Infill Housing – Winner
Scala Yard – Commended
Large Housing Development
Royal Albert Wharf – Winner
Blackfriars Circus – Highly Commended
Large Housebuilder
Countryside Properties
Urban Regeneration
Silchester Housing – Winner
Carmichael Court – Commendation
Commercial
Television Centre – Winner
John Lewis Oxford – Commendation
Public
Storey’s Field Community Centre & Nursery – Winner
The Halifax Central Library – Commendation
Education
Malborough Primary School – Winner
Stowe School, Girls Boarding House – Commendation
Refurbishment
Walthamstow Wetlands – Winner
Turner’s House – Commendation
Innovation
Coate St – Winner
Step House – Highly Commended
Outdoor
Storey’s Field Community Centre & Nursery
Craftsmanship
Harpsden Wood House, Fusion Brickwork – Winner
The Tropical Ravine – Commendation
Specialist Brickwork Contractor
Anglian Brickwork Ltd
Worldwide
APT no 7 – Brickweaving, Iran – Winner
Rwanda Cricket Stadium – Commendation
Architects Choice
Creek Road
Supreme Winner
Storey’s Field Community Centre & Nursery