The award-winning York
Handmade Brick Company has provided 30,000 bricks for the new Central Library
and Archive in Halifax.
About 30,000
specially-manufactured bricks will make up the walls of the new building.
Every single brick has been
drawn by hand in the plans and sample walls have been built to make sure the
bricks are exactly the right style, shape and colour to blend with the Grade I
listed Piece Hall and the town’s many historical buildings.
Calderdale Council and
LDN Architects selected bricks by the York Handmade of Alne, near
Easingwold, to ensure an attractive, high-quality façade.
York Handmade has been
making bricks in York for over 70 years from local Triassic mudstone clay that
has been used in the area for centuries. Its bricks have been used in a range
of prestigious locations, including The Shard in London and Chetham’s School of
Music in Manchester.
David Armitage, the
chairman of York Handmade, said: “My family has been making bricks in Yorkshire
for more than a century, so the new Central Library and Archive means a great
deal to us. We are very proud to be involved and this contract continues a
special tradition.”
Sample walls, constructed
by GRAHAM Construction on the new library site, have allowed the Council and
LDN Architects to test the bricks and mortar, including how the colour changes
when wet.
The chosen bricks all
have an individual character, as some of York Handmade’s manufacturing process
is manual.
The mix of lighter and
darker colours is unique to this project to ensure the new Central Library and
Archive complements the sandstone that makes up most of the Piece Hall. The
long shape of the bricks is similar to the ones used in many of Halifax’s
traditional buildings.
The new library is
designed around the remains of the Square Church and some of the new bricks
will be used inside, next to the exposed stone of the church walls.
The bricks will be laid
at the new Central Library and Archive over the next few months and are already
on the extension that will connect it to the Piece Hall.
The Piece Hall walls are
also receiving the same meticulous attention to detail during the building’s
transformation. Every single stone is being checked and where necessary,
repaired with great care and sensitivity to the building’s listed status.
Cllr Tim Swift, Calderdale
Council’s Leader, said: “Paying full
attention to detail makes all the difference to a completed building, and brickwork
is an important part of the area’s built heritage.
“It is therefore vital
that we get the look of the new Central Library and Archive, and the Piece
Hall, right. The carefully chosen hand-crafted bricks will create a striking
building that sits comfortably in its historic setting. Yorkshire has a proud
tradition of brickmaking, so we are delighted to be working with York
Handmade.”