The York Handmade Brick Company,
one of the leading independent brickmakers in the country, has been highly
commended in the prestigious 2021 Brick Awards.
York Handmade, based at Alne, near
Easingwold, in North Yorkshire, was short-listed for three awards, following
the company’s acclaimed role in the new library at Magdalene College,
Cambridge; the restoration of St Albans Cathedral in Hertfordshire; and the
brand-new Valentine House at Allostock in Cheshire.
St Albans Cathedral was highly
commended in the hotly contested Public category and has also won a string of
other coveted regional and national awards, including the Royal Institute of
British Architects (RIBA)’s East Award and East Conservation Award 2021.
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 in conjunction with Building magazine,
they are the brick industry’s Oscars.
York Handmade Chairman David
Armitage said: “We are tremendously proud to have been shortlisted for these three
fantastic projects this year and to be highly commended for our work at St
Albans Cathedral.
“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 these projects so
successful and so memorable.
“It is vitally important to stress
that these entries are completely different jobs in design and execution,
graphically illustrating our ability to work in a wide variety of colours and
styles. We believe we can tackle any brickwork project successfully.
“St Albans is the home of some of
the earliest examples of brick use in Roman Britain, so as a brick-maker, we
are very humbled to supply one of the birth places of brick in the UK. St
Albans Cathedral stands on the site of St Alban's execution and burial. He was
the first Christian British martyr,” said Mr Armitage
Andy Davey of Edinburgh-based architects
Simpson and Brown, who worked with York Handmade on the St Albans project,
added: “To be highly commended in such a competitive shortlist is a real
honour. Having worked with York Handmade previously on a number of prestigious
projects, including the major remodelling of York Art Gallery, we were
delighted to re-establish our relationship for the creation of the new Visitor
and Learning Centre at St Albans Cathedral.
“York Handmade were instrumental in
providing specialist advice on the specification, manufacture and supply of the
numerous types, profiles and shades of special bricks that were required in
order to create a seamless blend between the new building and the existing
1980s brick-built Chapter House.”
Apart from the RIBA awards, St
Albans Cathedral has also won the St Albans Civic Society Trevelyan Prize; the
Best Public Building and Best Young Architect (Catriona O’Neill) categories in
the Scottish Design Awards; and the St Albans Civic Society Plaque 2019/20.
David Armitage commented: “These
awards are richly deserved.
I am especially pleased to see such a talented
young architect as Catriona O’Neill, who worked so closely with us at St
Albans, being honoured in the Scottish Design Awards.”
York Handmade has a tremendous
track record in the Brick Awards, being highly commended for its work on both the Peter Hall
Performing Arts Centre at Perse School in Cambridge and the Loxley Stables residential
housing project in Hertfordshire. 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, 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.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, York
Handmade’s bricks helped Hawksmoor Homes win a coveted national award. The
company provides bricks for Hawksmoor’s contemporary residential development in
Pirbright, Surrey, which won the Best Boutique Development category in this
year’s Evening Standard’s New Homes Awards.
For further information, please contact David Armitage
of York Handmade on 01347 838881 or Robert Beaumont of Robert Beaumont
Associates on 01423 323139