York Handmade wins major award at the brick oscars

The York Handmade Brick Company, one of the leading independent brickmakers in the country, has won a major honour in the prestigious 2024 Brick Awards.

York Handmade, based at Alne, near Easingwold, in North Yorkshire, triumphed in the Craftsmanship category for the company’s work on 5 St Frederick’s Place in the heart of City of London.

The Brick Awards were presented at a glittering ceremony at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in the heart of London’s West End. Run by the Brick Development Association, they are the brick industry’s Oscars. They are an international competition that recognizes exceptional brick architecture and craftsmanship. The awards celebrate projects that demonstrate innovative use of clay brick, exceptional design and a commitment to sustainability.

The ceremony was hosted by popular TV personality and architect George Clarke, best known for his work on the Channel 4 programmes The Home Show, The Restoration Man, George Clarke's Old House New Home and George Clarke's Amazing Spaces.

This year the awards have attracted entries from housebuilders, developers, architects and contractors across 18 hotly contested categories. 

5 Frederick’s Place is based in the heart of London, near Bank Underground Station. This award-winning project involved the demolition of two buildings and the erection of a seven-storey structure consisting of both retail and commercial spaces, together with a new purpose-built archive for the Mercers’ Company.

The Brick Awards judges paid tribute to York Handmade’s work saying: “What a nice example of brickwork, well-planned and extremely well-executed. This was a real conversion of what was a site ripe for development and gave the building a new and relevant rebirth.

“The project boasts some interesting and exciting masonry features. It’s not very often one sees tapestry bond and here it’s well done. It’s very soft on the eye, a great use of brick. 

“The combination of different types of bricks in the building’s construction adds character and appeal, drawing the attention of the public. This blend of bricks creates an alluring façade that speaks to both tradition and modernity. It’s an effective way to add personality to an architectural design, captivating the public.”

York Handmade Chairman David Armitage said: “We are tremendously proud to have been won the coveted Craftsmanship Awards this year. The judges’ comments are wonderful and a ringing endorsement of everything we are trying to achieve here at York Handmade.

“Huge thanks are due to the management team and employees at York Handmade for their imagination, enterprise and hard work, which all combined to make this project so successful and so memorable. We believe we can tackle any brickwork project successfully.”

York Handmade has a tremendous track record in the Brick Awards, being highly commended for its work in the Medium Housing category for the stunning Lancer Square development in Kensington, London, and for the acclaimed Renshaw Hall student housing development in Liverpool in the Specialist Brickwork Contractor category last year.

These commendations come hard on the heels of York Handmade’s success in the RIBA Stirling Prize 2022, which the company’s Magdalene College Library project in Cambridge won.

The company was also honoured in the Brick Awards for its work on St Albans Cathedral in 2021 and for both the Peter Hall Performing Arts Centre at Perse School in Cambridge and the Loxley Stables residential housing project in Hertfordshire in 2019. In 2018 the company was honoured for its involvement in the acclaimed Westgate Centre in the heart of historic Oxford and for the magnificent Halifax Library. 

Going further back in time, York Handmade won a hat-trick of categories in 2012 with the triumph of Four Oaks in Little Bedwyn; Tupgill Cellar, near Middleham, North Yorkshire; and Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester, while other prestigious wins included the Walled Garden at Scampston Hall in 2004 and St Brigid’s Church, Belfast, in 1995.

For further information visit yorkhandmade.co.uk