The 2018
Brick Awards have been announced at a ceremony celebrating 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.
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.
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.
