Brick’s quality is timeless. It will help a building’s exterior remain looking natural and impressive for many years post-construction. Its resurgence as a material of choice for housebuilders and architects has much to do with the inventive ways brick can now be used to realise a range of striking structural patterns and designs. Andy Sharlot, Chief Designer at IG Masonry Support, highlights how the traditional brick, aided by innovations in masonry systems and techniques, has been used to fulfil complex, creative requirements in modern buildings.
Due mainly to its consistent shape, compressive strength and ability to absorb water, many generations of architects have selected the brick as their go-to building material. Its popularity hasn’t gone unchallenged, however, with the past decade or so seeing the emergence of solutions such as cladding. But in-keeping with the well-known phrase, ‘form is temporary, class is permanent’, brick is back in vogue as an inspiration to property owners and designers looking to emulate modern interpretations of classic architecture.
Architecturally, the intricate detailing that brickwork enables is without compare. Brick detail in the form of brick soffits, deep reveals and flying beams continually make for stunning exteriors, enabling architects to create truly unique façades. Brick’s popularity in the UK and Ireland as a tried-and-trusted building source was unrivalled until modern cladding systems offered a quicker, cheaper route to creating bright, contemporary-looking buildings. Such convenience comes at a cost, however. Aesthetically, modern cladding systems begin to look tired and dated over time, thus regular and potentially costly maintenance is needed to upkeep or upgrade them. This brings into question their long-term cost efficiency, but not-so brick-built façades, which will retain their impressive look many years after their initial construction.
Create beautiful brickwork
As a result of brick’s popularity and limitless design potential, there has been a need for a market solution that enables intricate brickwork patterning to be achieved in many iterations.
IG Masonry Support designed and manufactured five soaring corbelled brick slip feature arches with bond patterns which span the entrance façade of the Hendrick’s Gin Palace foyer in Scotland, a project designed by Michael Laird Architects and built by main contractor McLaughlin & Harvey. In total, 10 arches featuring on the front elevation were successfully manufactured to the same quality finish in factory-controlled conditions and fitted seamlessly with the brickwork onsite. Internally, three deep soffit arches were manufactured offsite and then supplied to site.
The same levels of consistency and quality were essential on the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC) project designed by Purcell, Steffian Bradley Architects and John Simpson Architects, built by main contractor Interserve and brickwork contractor Lee Marley, and featuring builders’ merchants, EH Smith. Over 1000 brick slip feature arches and just under 3km of offsite cornice were manufactured and designed. It would have been a time-consuming, highly-skilled task to create arches and cornice using traditional methods onsite, but offsite solutions enabled the creation of identical arches of various designs and cornice detail that would achieve the architect’s desired aesthetic.
The uniformity that was essential to these projects run the risk of being compromised if traditional trades were employed. However, with modular construction this replication simply isn’t an issue. Taking the construction of complex brick features offsite into factory-controlled conditions drives the level of quality and consistency that is needed to achieve excellence. On both of these projects, intricate brickwork detailing was completed to stunning effect, enabling the same quality finish every time.
A bespoke solution for architects
At IG Masonry Support, not only do we understand that architects need to be given creative authority over prefabricated brick features, we realise the importance of regulatory compliance and quality.
Achieving deep brick soffits and intricate brick bonds around window heads and openings is quick, easy and cost efficient to achieve with our Brick On Soffit Systems (B.O.S.S. and B.O.S.S.+). These tailor-made bespoke solutions are designed and manufactured to meet the client’s specification. The systems are highly adjustable, enabling architects to design various shapes and depths of brick soffits whilst accommodating a wide range of bond patterns.
IG Masonry Support designed and manufactured the B.O.S.S. systems for 57 Broadwick Street and Stonebridge Park, London. On the first project – designed by Rolfe Judd Architecture, built by main contractor Blenheim House Construction and brickwork contractor Grangewood, and featuring EH Smith – curved and straight B.O.S.S. units and deep soffit panels were created to achieve a range of deep-tiled soffits, slender brick piers, and tile and brick banding on the building’s façades. For Stonebridge Park, London – built by main contractor Durkan and designed by architect Cullinan Studio – B.O.S.S. units were designed and manufactured for the intricate corbelled brick feature at the site’s entrance. This design was delivered in separate components that facilitated optimum adjustability so the intricacy of the design could be achieved without compromising the speed and quality of construction.
To meet changes to Building Regulations, IG Masonry Support engineered B.O.S.S.+, an A2 fire-rated system suitable for use on projects that require Building Regulations Document B compliance. The second generation of its original B.O.S.S. system, B.O.S.S.+ comprises a stainless-steel framework with a cement particle board backing element to which the brick slips are adhesively bonded and mechanically fixed. In short, this BBA Certified solution ticked the boxes in all of the required areas and was available to the market in 2019.
Not resting on its laurels, IG Masonry Support’s next step was to create a fully non-combustible and carbon neutral product. The BBA-Certified B.O.S.S. A1 system is ‘A1’ fire rated and has been subjected to hygrothermal testing. The product passed the rigorous examination with ease. As well as meeting current fire regulations regardless of the building’s height or purpose, the manufacturing process and environmental impacts will be significantly reduced.
No matter how ambitious the design, IG Masonry Support’s easy-to-install solutions deliver significant reductions in installation time by up to 90%. Any higher initial costs can be offset by saving time and money in terms of labour. A quality finish that meets the required aesthetics and blends seamlessly with the surrounding brickwork can also be achieved.
As with a beloved work of art, brick is a design classic that will continue to be rediscovered by future generations, ensuring its relevance to our built environment. This is due in part to companies such as IG Masonry Support and their commitment to developing solutions that enable brick, a staple construction material, to be used in ways that fire the imagination of architects and builders alike.