Double BDA win for Forterra
We were delighted to celebrate two wins at the 2023 Brick Development Association Awards, hosted in London on 8th November, winning both the Architect Choice and Medium Housing Development categories.
The Architects Choice was awarded for Forterra’s contribution to the Yoko Ono Lennon Centre, a unique teaching and performance building at the University of Liverpool, designed by Liverpool School of Architecture graduates based at UK architecture practice Ellis Williams.
Externally, the building’s form and materials relate to the robust architecture of some of Liverpool’s historic civic buildings and dockside architecture. The facing brick selected was Forterra’s Butterley Farmstead Antique, a red brick in alignment with The University of Liverpool’s original “red brick University” status. The bricks provide more than decoration, they are a key part of the acoustic strategy and were selected for their density as well as their colour and tone.
Forterra also won Medium Housing Development for The Tannery, a derelict industrial area where leather goods were once produced, on the northern boundary of the village of Holt in Wiltshire.
A key aim of the development was to reconnect the village with its industrial heritage and thereby with its northern rural boundary, ensuring that the new housing would also feel connected to both the industrial area and the existing village. The choice of building materials was a major contributing factor to achieving this goal.
Bamford Blend, a red clay brick produced exclusively for Taylor Maxwell by Forterra, was selected as the primary building material for 43 new homes, designed by Mitchell Eley Gould Architects. The clay brick resonates with the crafted nature of the buildings in the area and with the approach to the design. Clay brick also benefits from being long-lived, giving a lasting, quality patina, and low maintenance.
Judges described the project as “A really thought-provoking development that is so successful with the homeowners and why not? Everything about this scheme exudes intelligence and links to the brief.”
We’re delighted to come away from the BDA awards with two wins. It’s fantastic to have so many of the fascinating projects we’ve been involved in highlighted by the BDA. As a leading British manufacturer of building products, we are proud to be involved in such a high calibre of buildings.