JUNE 2003 BULLETIN

CLAY COUTURE
How a West Country university
turned brick into high fashion

NEWS IN PIX SACRED THE TECHNICAL

ROUND-UP P4 Holland’s
stunning new
BONDS MESSAGE MATTERS
P2 Prescott P10 Matching P13 Don’t believe P14 How do you
generation of brick
bows to pressure 500 years of what you read get the most out
high rises
on housing craftsmanship at about the shortage of stack bonding
statistics a Norfolk shrine of brickies on your project?
Industry howls force ODPM
to keep information flowing
THE Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
has backtracked on a plan to change the way
that housing starts and completions are
reported. It had proposed to release the
figures at quarterly, rather than monthly,
intervals.
This move was opposed by companies in the
building industry, who were concerned that
they would not have enough information to
plan their businesses.
The brick industry complained that a
change would have hampered its ability to
predict trends, and therefore hindered its
planning, production and stock activities.
The industry has so far relied on monthly
housing data – collected partly from local
authority building control departments and
published after a six-week time lag. A change
to quarterly reporting would have meant that
the figures would have been out of date by as
much as 18 weeks.
Con Lenan, the chief executive of the BDA,
told Brick Bulletin: “The quarterly system
proposed would have been a non-starter and
made things onerous and unmanageable.
“What the brick industry and the wider
construction industry need is an instant
reporting system that is as transparent as it is
accurate. In the final analysis, you have to ask
whether it is reasonable to have to wait for
well over three months for information which
is crucial for the well-being of your business.”
The idea behind the ODPM’s original proposal
was to improve the quality of quarterly data
and regional statistics. After lobbying by the
Construction Products Association, of which
the BDA is a member, the ODPM is proposing
an alternative mechanism.
It will provide monthly estimates for total
starts and completions in addition to a
quarterly analysis. Starts and completions
data for about half of new homes are supplied
to the ODPM by the NHBC.
The ODPM will publish its provisional
monthly estimates at www.odpm.gov.uk.

50,000 cram building exhibition at NEC

ABOUT 50,000 people
attended the National
Homebuilding and Renovating
Show at the NEC, Birmingham,
in March.
The brick industry was
present in force: Baggeridge
Brick, Hanson Brick, Ibstock
Brick, thebrickbusiness and the
York Handmade Company had
eye-catching stands, all of
which enjoyed a good flow of
visitors.
The BDA participated in
partnership with the Traditional
Housing Bureau, a body that
promotes brick-and-block
construction.
Their joint stand
demonstrated a few of the
many forms of brick-and-block
wall and floor construction.
Frequently asked questions at
the stand included ways of
using detailing to individualise
brickwork, and the use of
reclaimed and simulated
reclaimed bricks – a popular
topic with self-builders.
Judging by the number of
enquiries fielded and the
many thousands of issues of
Brick Bulletins picked up, it
seems self-builders have an
insatiable appetite for brick
construction.

2 ● BRICKBULLETIN
SKATEBOARDERS are going to love this vestibule and frontage for the
Baptist Church in Hayes, Middlesex. The design incorporates a “yellow”
B R I C K
brick wall with an unusual, undulating top. Conceived by Design Research BULLETIN

Unit, an architect based in south-east London, the wall has been laid in a
reversed-style English garden wall bond where three courses of headers It is my new
alternate with single stretcher courses to give a striking sinuous effect.
responsibility to steer
the Brick Development
Association along a
path that will ensure
that brick remains high on the
architecture, construction and
education agendas. This is a challenge,
but it is one that we at the BDA relish.
Brick Bulletin is an important
component of our activities, and this
issue is the second in our upgraded
Definitive guide to format.

global brick on the way

A BOOK due for publication this autumn
looks likely to become the standard
reference work on international
brickwork.
Entitled Brick: A World History, it is
written by James Campbell, an architect
and historian of architecture, who
travelled around the world to research
the most extraordinary brick edifices
ever built, accompanied by photographer
Will Pryce. The 56-day itinerary, which
was funded by the BDA, included destinations across Europe,
Central Asia, the Far East and North America.
The resulting 320-page volume, which contains about 600
photographs and illustrations, is the outcome of a five-year
project. It is published in the UK by Thames & Hudson, and will be
released in the USA in a separate edition, and is being translated
into French, German, Italian and Dutch.
Campbell sees brick as a highly expressive building material that
can contribute as much to 21st-century architecture as it has to
the architecture of the past.
Brick has a distinguished history. It is
also a modern material, with aesthetic
and structural capabilities that have yet
to be fully explored. Whether it is
embracing the latest technology – such
as thin-bed brickwork at the University
of the West of England – or reworking
traditional themes in a modern idiom,
such as the visitor facilities at a Norfolk
shrine – brick shows that it is a versatile
construction material that never fails to
delight.
Today, the brick industry faces the
task of educating clients and specifiers
about the potential of its product. This
is helped by James Campbell’s
beautifully illustrated new book, which

Brick is eco-friendly material highlights the amazing potential of

brickwork. And it will be helped by the
for highway bridges existence of Brick Bulletin, which, along
A RECENT TECHNICAL PAPER on the performance of highway bridges
has shown brick to be an environmentally efficient constructional and with the Brick Awards, reveals brick for
structural form. what it is – a 21st-century building
The research was conducted by Surrey University’s Department of
Civil Engineering and Surrey County Council. It found that brick was a material.
sustainable material because of its low maintenance and longevity. Michael Driver, senior architect
The paper concludes that a bridge’s construction is the single
biggest environmental impact over its entire life cycle. However,
refurbishment was found to be significant as well, and if maintenance
and refurbishment can be deferred for longer periods, the initial
construction impacts are less important over the life-cycle of the editor George Demetri co-ordinating editor Andy Pearson
designer Joe Presedo production David Rogers
bridge. Brickwork scores heavily in this respect because of its
reproduction London Pre-press printed by St Ives plc
long service life, low maintenance and adaptability for refurbishment ISSN 0307-9325
and reuse.

BRICK BULLETIN ● 3
A
 IN PICTURES
NOT SOFLAT
AFTER ALL
The Netherlands has built a
run of stunning brick towers.
Here’s the best of the bunch …
B D
The 152 m Montevideo
A residential and office
tower block, a symbol of
the vertical city, in give
Rotterdam a high-quality
mix of live–work services
and leisure facilities.
Completion is due in 2005
and the architect is
Mecanoo, Delft, Holland.
The 102 m, 32-storey
B Schielandtoren also in
Rotterdam, is a concrete,
brick and glass residential
tower in the Beursplein
area of the city.
The architect is Pi de Bruijn
of de Architekten Cie.
C
A city within a city,
C the Landtong in
Rotterdam is a monumental
housing development of
625 homes complete with
leisure facilities. A special
brick was developed for the
facade. The architect is
Frits van Dongen of de
Architekten Cie.
National Heritage
D Museum, Arnhem. The
entrance to the museum
has a 145 m long wall made
up of irregular brick panels.
The novel use of bricks, in
parts with frogs facing
outwards, makes a tapestry
of dynamic textures.
Mecanoo, Delft, Holland
designed it.
Vondelpark, Utrecht,
E Holland. The
Vondelpark is a cubist-style
housing development
comprising 203 dwellings
made from orange-red
bricks, inset balconies and
zinc-covered windows.
The architect is Mecanoo,
Delft Holland.
BRICK BULLETIN ● 5
 CASE STUDY 1

STUDENT DEMO
This university building in Bristol was designed to
give architecture undergraduates a practical lesson
in state-of-the-art ecological construction and
contemporary aesthetics. And it achieved this by
using bricks in a completely novel way …
Will Jones explains

88 ● BRICK BULLETIN

Project team
Client University of the West of England
Project Management UWE Estates Department
Design team
Services engineer Buro Happold
Structural engineer Buro Happold with Mander
Structural design
Landscape design Cooper Partnership
Quantity surveyor Turner & Townsend
Planning supervisor Buro Happold
Architecture White Design
Artwork Andrew Bradford – Colour Theory
Installation
Design and build team
Main contractor Willmott Dixon
Architecture Wyn Thomas Gordon Lewis
Structural engineer Veryards
Mechanical and electrical engineer McCann &
Partners
Brickwork Willmott Dixon Direct Labour
I
F YOU WERE ASKED TO NAME SOME
architectural teaching aids, you would
probably mention scale models, design details
or computer software; material samples and
texts about influential architects might also feature.
Ask Craig White the same question, however, and you
get a different answer.
White, a partner in architect White Design, lectures at
the University of West England. And, when the
university decided it required a new building for the
architecture and planning department, he jumped
at the chance to design what would become the
ultimate in teaching aids for the students working
within its walls.
“There were two main criteria in our approach to the
design of the architecture and planning studio
building,” says White. “The building had to house the
needs of the department in a practical way and it
should also be used as a teaching resource. The
building’s design had to be innovative but also
transparent, to allow students to see and study the way
in which it was built and monitor its performance and
day-to-day operation.”
Viewed from across campus, the architecture and
planning studio building does not scream innovation. It
is rectangular in plan, steps from two to three storeys
along its length, and its north elevation has a semi-
glazed facade interspersed with solid panels to light the
studio spaces. The same job is undertaken by rooflights
in the folded plate. The external walls, apart from what
looks like the odd decorative panel, appear to be tiled
in terracotta.
Move closer and the intricacies, innovations and
ideals of the building start to become more apparent.
What could have been perceived as red terracotta
tiling, is stack-bonded brickwork with precise 3 mm
thick joints. The bricks form 8 m wide storey-high
panels, laid to a tolerance that would be unthinkable
with traditional methods and materials. It is as if the
walls had been made in a factory, brought to site and
simply stood in position. They haven’t but, they could
have been.
The architect’s design incorporates a great many
innovations and energy conscious features not only in
the mechanics of the building – solar collectors,
sensor-controlled lighting, natural ventilation and so on
– but also within its structural fabric.
The arrangement used at the University of the E
BRICK BULLETIN ● 7
External wall detail at first floor E West of England is shown on the detail. Structural
hollow sections running vertically from floor to
floor were inserted in the cavity to act as wind
posts. Two posts were used in each 6 metre bay
Fairfaced blockwork positioned 1140mm from each end. The stack
bonded brickwork and the inner skin of concrete
block were tied back to the posts. Between the posts
Red facing bricks the two skins were tied in a conventional diagonal
pattern. The building’s design pays close attention to
low-energy construction techniques, and the
brickwork is no exception. This building is the first
Cavity tray in the UK to use glued brickwork, and it is a mystery
50 mm insitu concrete to British builders and designers – Willmott Dixon
had to send a team of to Belgium for a week to learn
the skill.
White explains the atttraction: “First, glued brickwork
can be stack-bonded without horizontal reinforcement.
And the bonds are so strong that there’s no need to
use a lintel for spans of less than 4.5 m. Then, the glue
sets and cures a lot faster than traditional mortar. It
cures fully in 24 hours, as opposed to 28 days. And,
once built, the brickwork requires no pointing or
cleaning down.
Universal beams “Aftercare is a factor. With glue, the brickwork is not
prone to efflorescence, as it would be if we used
mortar. We also calculate that because the thin
glue-filled joints are waterproof and frost-resistant,
they don’t require repointing every seven years. This
alone, over a 50-year lifecycle, saves £50,000.”

8 ● BRICK BULLETIN
 “As you can see, glued brickwork can save a lot of
time and money and the tolerances that can be
achieved allow designers to use brickwork to new
standards. It can even be prefabricated and then
delivered and fixed in position in large panels.”
The superior aesthetic of the technique is not in
question. The clean, precise lines of the brickwork
panels are striking. High-spec wire-cut red bricks were
chosen for their smooth, sharply arissed finish. The
glue, called Anker Plast, is a cementitious resin mortar.
Its composition is project specific, depending on laying
temperatures and materials used, but is based on a Ground-level wall detail
mixture of fine-grained calibrated sand mixed with
Portland cement. This is modified with artificial resins
and other components to the manufacturer’s secret
recipe.
The building is intended to help students to study Fairfaced blockwork
construction. White makes the point with a graphic Insulation
metaphor: “Think of a medical student working on a Cavity Tray Red facing bricks
cadaver and then imagine our building’s fabric being Concrete foundations
the skeleton, its heating system as the blood vessels, Insitu slab
electrical system as the nervous system, building
management system as the brain.” Facing brickwork recessed 15 mm
And the building will give students plenty to think External pavers
about. It’s fabric includes prefabricated straw bale
insulation that have a U-value of 0.03 W/m2ºK – 10
times better than the Building Regulations require.
There is no mechanical ventilation. The building’s
energy management system opens and closes windows
depending on data it receives from a roof-mounted
weather station. The station detects rainfall, external
temperature, wind speed and wind direction to control
airflow though the building.
Students studying in the building can literally plug-in
and monitor every aspect of its performance. “The
building is transparent. It is a high-performance model,
demonstrating energy consciousness and innovation,”
says White. With a study tool like that, UWE should be Floor insulation
able to produce some of the best environment-friendly Blockwork below ground
architects and planners in the country.

Lay it like it is
Glued brickwork may look great. It might offer a UWE architecture and planning studio building
number of benefits over its traditional counterpart. But
if those working with it give it the thumbs down it will Total site area 2300m 2
have a difficult time gaining a foothold in the Cost excluding external works and link bridge £2,355,685.41
construction market. So, what did the operatives doing Total cost m2 £1024.21
the laying think about it?
“The procedure looks simple,” says Eddie Willmott, Elements
one of the team on the project. “Pipe the adhesive on Substructure £105,518.23 £45.88m2
to the existing course using a hose attached to the glue Frame £160,382.45 £69.73m2
machine, butter the ends of a brick and place it in Upper floors £74,977.01 £32.60m2
position. But, the adhesive is trickier to use than it first Roof £124,525.10 £54.14m2
appears. If the mix is too stiff the adhesive won’t flow Stairs and architectural metalwork £44,557.58 £19.37m2
properly, if it’s too wet the bricks sink. And they didn’t External Walls £155,703.78 £67.70m2
tell us while we were in Belgium that the glue sets very, Windows and external doors £318,159.96 £138.33m2
very quickly in cold weather.” Internal Walls £102,406.62 £44.52m2
Site practice is affected, too. Each day the glue Internal doors and ironmongery £67,085.33 £29.17m2
machine must be dismantled and power-washed, and Wall finishes £22,078.84 £9.60m2
scaffolding has to be wider to accommodate the Floor finishes £101,959.25 £44.33m2
machine. Laying speed is slower than with mortar. Ceiling finishes £39,032.18 £16.97m2
Willmott reckons he can lay about 1400 bricks a day Associated builders work £16,051.54 £6.98m2
using traditional methods. With glue, this fell to 400, Mechanical £384,911.19 £167.35m2
but later improved to 800-1000. Electrical £587,761.55 £255.55m2
So, at the end of the project, what is the word from Fixtures and fittings £50,574.80 £21.99m2
the brickies? “I’d be happy to carry on with the
method,” says Willmott. “You’ve just got to be a good The preliminaries, design fees and on-costs have been allocated proportionately across the
brickie to lay to the tolerances.” above elements.

BRICK BULLETIN ● 9
 CASE STUDY 2

SACRED
BONDS
How’s this for a special case? It’s the
extension of a Norfolk shrine to an
11th-century saint, and to do it justice
required superb craftsmanship and
a mastery of technique and design.
Will Jones explains how this was
accomplished. Photography
Peter Cook/View

Project team
Architect Cowper Griffith Associates
Main contractor JS Hay
Quantity surveyor Davis Langdon & Everest
Structural engineer Harris & Sutherland
M&E consultant David Chinery Consultants
Acoustics Cambridge Architectural Research

Subcontractors
Brickwork JS Hay
Mechanical Knight Warner
Electrical Kings & Barnhams
Roofing MG Houghton
Leadwork Norfolk Sheet Lead
Metalwork ST Cowell
Landscaping GDC

Client commissions
Dedication stone, bas relief Cardoza Kindersley
Workshop
Stained glass Michael Coles

Contract value
Total project value (Refectory construction,
refurbishment of three other buildings on the site)
£2.15m.
 M
EET A FABULOUS RARITY IN THE MODERN
construction industry: a main contractor
that employs its own tradesmen. Even more
anachronistic is the fact that JS Hay took
many of them on as apprentices. Jon Chaney, a
contract surveyor with Hay, points out the obvious
advantages of this system. “We’ve some of the best
bricklayers in the business,” he says. “They’ve been
trained in traditional methods like flint work and
they’re adaptable enough to pick up new or historic
techniques with no problems. It’s good to have
tradesmen you can trust when you’re working with
materials and styles that have a long history in the
surrounding built environment.”
This came in handy when the contractor came to
tackle its latest project: architect Cowper Griffith
Associates’ scheme for a refectory, meeting rooms and
a hostel at the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, in
the sleepy Norfolk village of Little Walsingham. “Every
type of brickwork detail on the project makes reference
to the surrounding buildings and traditional
techniques,” says project architect Carl Rowland.
“We’ve included Flemish and stack bonds, soldier
courses, rows of headers, even locally sourced flint
cobbles from an RMC quarry in Holt.”
The architect’s challenge was to design for a site
bordered by 300 years of architecturally significant
properties. The practice has taken references from, and
designed in deference to, the adjacent church and
adjoining village houses to produce a scheme that
subtly blends contemporary materials and
traditional local construction techniques for this
historic site.
The Priory of Our Lady of Walsingham became a
place of pilgrimage in the 11th century after a Saxon
noblewoman, Richeldis de Faverches, had a vision in
which she was taken by the Virgin Mary to the house in
Nazareth where Gabriel informed her that she was
pregnant. Mary asked Richeldis to build an exact replica
of that house – which is how Walsingham came to be
known as England’s Nazareth.
In the 16th century, Richeldis’ priory was destroyed,
removing the main centre of religious worship. Despite
the loss of the building, pilgrims still kept coming, only Opposite page: Intricate
this time their attention was focused on the village detailing and a flint cobbled
itself. For four hundred years there was no purpose- wall on this gable end relate
built place of worship in the village. Then in the 1950s the modern building with
the present shrine church was completed, and from its architectural heritage.
then onwards there has been a steadily increasing flow Below: The fin wall and the
of pilgrims, putting pressure on the spaces and E graceful arc of the cloister.

BRICK BULLETIN ● 11
 Detail of a fin wall on the west elevation E buildings in the community.
Cowper Griffith Associates’ scheme is designed to
provide a series of linked buildings to cater for the
visitors. Viewed on plan, the project is a mass of
curves. Starting from a conical tower clad in flint
A row of stretchers over a double course of cobbles, the cloister sweeps in a graceful arc to the
headers are stitched into the fin wall brickwork main building entrance. The tower is the scheme’s focal
Angled wall point at the main entrance; from here, the low curving
to imitate cloister guides visitors through gardens to the
brick butress refectory, meeting rooms and hostel.
English garden wall bond If you approach the main buildings through this
cloister, you see a series of fin-shaped walls running at
right angles to it. They form the west elevation of the
refectory and are the first reference to the local
vernacular. Built from handmade ATR multistock, each
fin wall leans towards the building at an angle of 5º,
like brickwork buttresses, and imitates the sloping form
of wall construction before the development of
concrete foundations.
Another aspect of traditional design is alluded to at
the verge of each fin wall. Two courses of headers are
laced into the horizontal English-garden-wall-bonded
brickwork. “The bonds give extra texture to the design,”
says Rowland, pointing to an example of the use of
cobbles, chamfered specials as well as courses of
stretchers and headers, all used on the gable end of
the new building that faces the St Anne’s House.
But all is not as it seems. Where once these walls
would have been solid, these incorporate a cavity to
5
o comply with the energy requirements of the Building
Regulations. The walls that look like solid brick and flint
pebble are in fact two skins of blockwork with a cavity,
on to which their decorative skin of brick and flint has
been applied.
Not all the contemporary work is disguised. Sleek,
polished concrete columns are used in the refectory
and on the exterior. They blend with the modern
refectory interior so that where they support the
curved tower of flint with its bands of corbelled
headers, the columns strike a well-balanced contrast.
Roof plan for the extension This attention to detail, from exposed rafter ends to
decorative verge details – courses of stretchers,
headers and specials – has broken up the scale of the
buildings and facilitated the integration of the refectory
within the village.
Main entrance Finding tradesmen who could work in traditional
techniques was one of Chaney’s challenges. Another
Cloister was setting out the job. “The project features all kinds
of angles and curves and so the setting out had to be
spot on to get everything to marry up,” says Chaney.
One of the most difficult tasks was constructing the
building’s intricate roof. The roof starts at the conical
tower, sweeps over the cloister to the main building
entrance. Offset from this are three pitched roofs that
curve along the ridgeline and step down from the
hip-end elevation – this is the same hip-end that has
the fin-shaped walls (see plan view). Add to this the
section of the roof above the main entrance, which
starts with a semi-circular canopy and then runs at
right-angles to and abutting with the other roofs and
you have a roof with 12 valleys on a single water-tight
Fin walled elevation Conical tower structure. “We set out the job in conjunction with a
specialist setting out engineer,” says Chaney. “It was a
challenge, and one we all enjoyed – most of the time.”
With the project now complete the success of the
design is apparent. Only a keen eye and a subtle
understanding can judge when to champion the new
and when to defer to the old. Cowper Griffith has both.

12 ● BRICK BULLETIN

Missing persons
As you know, we’re facing a shortfall of bricklayers. What you may
not know is that this isn’t, in fact, true. David Szymanski explains
I
T IS A WELL KNOWN FACT THAT THE MORE
an inaccuracy is circulated, the more it gains
currency. That is why the misleading
information that has appeared in the
construction press over the past year has led many to
believe that there is a skills shortage in the bricklaying
sector. In reality, no such shortage exists.
Recent figures from the Construction Industry
Training Board indicate that talk of a shortage is
incorrect; the opposite is true. We have a supply of
bricklayers that is perfectly adequate to meet the
prevailing demand. This is the conclusion of a well
thought out argument about bricklaying output
based on discussions with the RICS Building Cost
Information Service.
The bricklaying output calculation revolves around
the CITB’s estimate that there are 117,800 bricklayers in
the UK. Even allowing for holidays, sickness, downtime,
time spent on other tasks, such as laying blockwork,
and then finally adjusted for true availability, there are
enough bricklayers in the UK to lay about 3.5 billion
bricks a year – which is about half a billion more than
the entire UK output.
One can only conclude, therefore, that the press
reports of a shortage of bricklayers is unfounded and
unbalanced. There are sufficient numbers of perfectly
competent bricklayers out there. However, some may
need identifying, probably because they have migrated
toward other construction-related disciplines.
But just because there is a plentiful supply of
bricklayers at present does not mean we can rest on
our laurels. Ensuring a constant supply of new blood is
a crucial concern of the Better Brickwork Alliance. That
is why it recently launched its Get A Life With Brick
initiative, designed to alert youngsters to the
attractions of a bricklaying career.
The campaign comprises an A1-sized educational
wallchart that has been sent to nearly 5000 secondary
schools nationwide; a teacher’s book and a dedicated
COMMENT
web site (www.brickpath.info) It all amounts to a rich
learning resource that highlights the scope and earning
potential of a bricklayer. And it comes at a time when
the government has at last realised that a
disproportionate emphasis has been placed on
academic success at the expense of craft skills.
Hopefully, the tide has started to turn.
Brick is an established product with well-known
aesthetic and performance characteristics. Even so, the
introduction of European standards for brick masonry
units should make life easier for those working with it
within the European Union. The dates that the
standards will become available have been announced,
which means that EU member states have six months
to publish the CEN European product standards.
What effect will the new standards have on architects,
specifiers and other users of brick? The answer is
almost none, providing they acquaint themselves with
the length of time that the CEN standards will
co-exist with the British Standards, and understand
that initially, CE marking will not be obligatory in the
UK and Ireland. Naturally, there is more to consider, but
the important point to note is that standards
harmonisation should not cause problems to those who
specify, use, buy or sell bricks. Indeed, the reverse is
likely to be true. And as far as the brick industry is
concerned, it will operate more smoothly and efficiently
than ever before.
Helping the process along, as ever, will be the BDA,
which has, since its formation, been communicating the
potential and benefits of brickwork to the construction
industry and the general public. The BDA clearly
understands the importance of reinforcing the brick
industry’s call that brick remain an important material,
not only as a vital constituent of our built heritage, but
also as a modern, durable and sustainable material for
the 21st century.
■ David Szymanski is managing director of Hanson
Building Products.
BRICK BULLETIN ● 13
 TECHNICAL

HOW TO …
ACHIEVE PERFECT STACK BONDING
Arranging bricks in vertical columns swaps the strength of a bond for a striking
aesthetic effect. Michael Driver takes us through the best ways of doing it

S
TACK BONDING IS A TERM USED TO
describe brickwork in which the vertical joints
between bricks are in perfect alignment. It is a
popular way of using brick as a cladding
because of the aesthetic effect and the lack of a true
bond suggests that the material has no structural
function.
Freed from the necessity to keep to a traditional
bond, the designer can stack up the bricks as
stretchers or headers, turn them on their end as a
soldier course, or on edge to expose the bed faces. It is
possible to mix different configurations to produce a
variety of patterns and textures, although in most
cases this potential is not explored.
The choice of brick and the specification of the
mortar is important because stack-bonded brickwork
relies for its effect on the accurate alignment of the
horizontal and vertical mortar joints. Generally, a
single colour brick with consistent size and shape is
specified. Bricks will need to be sorted to a tighter
size tolerance than the current manufacturing
standard and this can be carried out at the
factory prior to delivery (for an additional cost) or
on site.
Experience has shown that if a 10 mm mortar
joint is being used, then a tolerance of plus or
minus 1.5 mm is acceptable, however if thin-joint
brickwork is being used, as at the University of the
West of England (see article on pages 6-9) then a
tighter tolerance is required. Makers are always willing
to be consulted on the suitability of a brick for a
specific function, and it is wise to do this early in the
design process.
The influence of mortar on the appearance of
brickwork is well documented and the colour, texture
and profile of the joint should be chosen to emphasise
rather than subdue the joint. Before any work is
undertaken on site, a panel should be constructed to
test the appearance and the accuracy that can be
expected. Agreement on the acceptance of a panel by
all parties is a fundamental step towards achieving a
successful job.
The unbonded nature of stack-bonded brickwork
means that careful consideration should be given to
the effects of lateral loading, especially in multistorey
applications. The provision of adequate wall-ties or
other stiffening techniques, together with the size of
the panel and its method of fixing to the frame must be
considered. A typical recommendation is that wall-ties
are placed at 215 mm vertically and 600 mm
horizontally , and a bed-joint reinforcement be

14 ● BRICK BULLETIN
 Typical section through a floor junction at University of West of England
2 5
1 K
4 K 65 × 100 × 8 mm steel angle section
3
6 6
7
2 the posts. Between them, the two skins were tied in a
9
J 8
introduced at every third course. Care should be taken
to ensure that the two restraint types are separated
within the panel so as not to have both in any
one course. Ties and reinforcement should be
stainless steel.
Another method of restraint is to fix the brickwork
back into stainless steel dovetail channels that are
bolted into the inner leaf. Stainless steel wall ties with
dovetail ends connect the wall channel to the bed-joint.
This technique is useful when bed joints in outer and
inner leaves do not align. While it is possible to insert a
tie in the vertical cross-joint in small areas of brickwork,
the bed joint is a more secure resting place because the
weight of material above compresses the structure and
so holds the tie more securely in place.
The bricklayer has to take extra care to satisfy the
rigorous geometry of stack bonding. Piano wires fixed
vertically to the outside of the panel may be used to
check the alignment of the work during laying. The
wires are attached to a light framework projecting from
the panel to allow access by the bricklayer during
laying, and are positioned so that they bisect the
vertical cross-joints. The alignment of the brickwork can
1 50 mm thick structural concrete topping on
150 mm thick precast concrete planks
2 100 mm thick blockwork inner skin
3 152 × 152 × 37 mm universal beam
4 203 × 133 × 30 galvanized universal beam
5 Stackbonded brickwork in 90 mm high brick
6 Soft joint under bottom flange of beam and channel
7 2 No M12-grade 8.8 bolts slotted through bolt holes
elongated to 25 mm for movement
8 2 mm wall ties at 276 mm vertical centres and fixed
to column with self-tapping screws
9 Square Hollow Section steelwork
J 75 mm frame cramp at 450 vertical centres
Note: Wall cavity is 150 mm thick complete with insulation. Note:
cavity tray omitted for clarity.
Structural hollow sections running vertically from floor
to floor were inserted in the cavity to act as wind
posts. Two posts were used in each 6 m bay positioned
1140 mm from each end. The stack-bonded brickwork
and the inner skin of concrete block were tied back to
conventional diagonal pattern.
be checked at regular intervals as the work
proceeds and the frame removed on completion.
The verticality of individual bricks, especially when
they are being laid as soldiers, should be checked
by a small boat level because any inaccuracy in the
plane of the walling is especially noticeable in stack
bonding.
Although stack bonding is used primarily for its
decorative effect it is also a practical solution to the
pre-stressing of brickwork panels. When an extruded
brick with perforations is stacked vertically, the voids
running continually through the brickwork provide a
location for rods, thus making it possible to prefabricate
the panels.
Stack bonding exploits many of the fine qualities
of brick and results in a wall that is both decorative
and long lasting. The introduction of thin-joint
mortars and the emphasis on prefabrication means
that this particular form of cladding has untapped
potential.
See main feature on pages 6-9 for a description of
how stack bonding was pioneered with a glue mortar at
the University of the West of England.
BRICK BULLETIN ● 15
DIRECTORY Brick Development Association member companies

Baggeridge Brick Hammill Brick Normanton Brick The York Handmade Brick
T 01902-880555 T 01304-617613 T 01924-892142/01924-895863 T 01347-838881
F 01902-880432 F 01304-611036 F 01924-223455 F 01347-838885
E enquiries@baggeridge.co.uk E sales@yorkhandmade.co.uk
www.baggeridge.co.uk.
Hanson Brick Northcot Brick www.yorkhandmade.co.uk
T 08705-258258 T 01386-700551
Bovingdon Brickworks F 01234-762040 F 01386-700852 The Brick Development
T 01442-833176 E info@hansonbrick.com E info@northcotbrick.co.uk Association
F 01442-834539 www.hansonbrick.com www.northcotbrick.co.uk Woodside House, Winkfield,
E info@bovingdonbrickworks.co.uk Windsor, Berkshire SL4 2DX
www.bovingdonbrickworks.co.uk
Ibstock Brick Ormonde Brick T 01344-885651
T 01530-261999 T +353 (0)56-41323
F 01344-890129
Broadmoor Brickworks F 01530-257457 F +353 (0)56-41314
E brick@brick.org.uk
T 01594-822255 www.ibstock.co.uk
F 01594-826782 Scotland T 0870-9034001
Phoenix Brick Company www.brick.org.uk

E davidnevitt@broadmoor-brickworks.co.uk North-west T 0870-9034007 T 01246-473171 The Brick

F 01246-280345
North-east Information Service
Bulmer Brick & Tile Co Nostell T0870-9034003
E enquiries@bricksfromphoenix.co.uk
T 01344-885651
T 01787-269232 Throckley T0870-9034004 www.bricksfromphoenix.co.uk
F 01787-269040
Leicester T 0870-9034008 Wm C Reade
E bbt@bulmerbrickandtile.co.uk
Dorket Head T 0870-9034009 T 01728-452982
Carlton Brick Hathernware T 0870-9034016 F 01728-454957
T 01226-711521 West Midlands T 0870-9034006 E wcreade. aldeburgh@dial.pipex.com
F 01226-780417 South West T 0870-9034010
direct sales line 01226-715000 South East T 0870-9034012 thebrickbusiness
London T 0870-9034013 T 0161-485 8211
Coleford Brick & Tile Co F 0161-485 1968
T 01594-822160 Kingscourt Brick E marketing@thebrickbusiness.com
F 01594-826655 T +353 (0)42-9667317 www.thebrickbusiness.com
F +353 (0)42-9667206
Freshfield Lane Tyrone Brick
Brickworks Marshalls Clay Products T 02887-723421
T 01825-790350 Head Office T01422-306000 F 02887-727193
F 01825-790779 F 0113-220 3555 www.tyrone-brick.com
E sales@flb.uk.com Sales Office T 0113-220 3535
www.flb.uk.com www.marshalls.co.uk

Hurry up and enter the 2003 Brick Awards

T
IME is running out for
entries to the2003 Brick
Awards – with the closing
date of 11 July 2003
looming, there is less than a month
to get your entries in.
The Brick Awards aim to recognise
and promote excellence in the use of
brick for architectural, structural,
landscape and craft applications.
Hundreds of projects are submitted
every year to this prestigious and
well established awards scheme and
this year there are more categories
than ever.
Anybody can enter the awards
whether architect, designer,
engineer, owner, developer,
housebuilder, specialist brick
contractor or brick manufacturer.
For an application form please ring
the BDA on 01344-885651 or log on
to www.brick.org.uk for a free
download. Follow that: The best private housing development last time, Terrace One, Lanark Street, Glasgow.

The contents of this publication are intended for general guidance only and any person intending to use these contents for the purpose of design, construction or repair of brickwork or any related project should first
consult a professional adviser. The Brick Development Association, its servants, and any persons who contributed to or who are in any way connected with this publication accept no liability arising from negligence or
otherwise howsoever caused for any injury or damage to any person or property or as a result of any use or reliance on any method, product, instruction, idea or other contents of this publication.

16 ● BRICK BULLETIN