Over the past decade we have seen a resurgence in brick as the ‘material of choice’ throughout Europe. With fantastic thermal properties, durability and longevity characteristics, clay products don’t just add texture to sharp architectural lines, contemporary brick styles emerge from our growing mobile society, transferring lifestyle and design preferences from region to region. It became clear to governments and designers across the continent that neighbourhoods of brick built homes were able to hold their value better over time. This national trend in architecture, identified as ‘European’ has had a prominent influence on UK buildings and designers and is clear to see on the recently completed ITV, Coronation Street Production Facility at Media City in Manchester.
Until recently, blended colour choices for masonry features were fairly limited, but this is changing thanks to advances in manufacturing and production processes. MBH PLC has a unique ability to manufacture pre-blended bricks in wirecuts, stocks or handmades and has recently launched a contemporary range called Synthesis. Bringing together unique individual bricks and transforming them into eye-catching collections with an appealing mosaic appearance, the collection mixes colours to complement each other, from stark contrasts to sympathetic palettes to give each building a unique aesthetic appearance.
It’s not easy for a manufacturer to make large-scale changes to their production processes, but this innovative adaptation has paid off for Blockleys’ Synthesis range in both sales and customer satisfaction. New blends such as Charcoal/Blue Smooth Face (S14) and Black/Blue with Smooth & Wirecut Face (S17) were specifically blended for ITV’s Television Studios, allow for subtle differences in appearance, boldly fitting in with this return to European-influenced architectural styles.
Replicating Coronation Street
Architect Jenkins Design Services have been appointed to mastermind ITV’s move from its central Manchester home to MediaCityUK at Salford Quays. As well as new offices and news studio accommodation, the scheme includes new film, production and support facilities for long-running soap opera Coronation Street which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. At the heart of this 7.7 acre site is a wholesale recreation of the Coronation Street lot and surrounding backdrops. Four new sound stages house permanent and changing sets for interior filming, along with a three-level studio support building. Two additional sound stage buildings for the production centre are to include specialist production facilities, offices and dressing rooms. Mace Group was chosen as construction manager to deliver the project, with a strict client brief for the new set to look exactly the same as the ‘Weatherfield’ known in living rooms up and down the country.
Martin Jump, Northern Sales Director at MBH PLC describes the complex specification process for this scheme, “we supplied 180 thousand clay units of varying blends, this process began in Spring 2012 to ensure that the brickwork package would be completed on site, in Autumn 2013. The initial brickwork specification and design was centred on an imported European Product which didn’t fit the budget, so I was asked to submit alternatives to Jenkins Design that would offer a colour range similar to the specified product.
This was a challenge that the company was excited to pursue, as we wanted to highlight the quality of products manufactured in the UK, the cost efficiency and reduced carbon footprint that comes with local specification over imports. We fabricated two Blockleys Synthesis Products S14 & S17 from initial request to final approval which took approximately six months to refine with the client, architect and main contractors aesthetic requirements. The sensitive blending process involved a variety of textures, to ensure an even but random nature of light deflection across the facade.”
The two blends were supplied in preblended packs from the Blockleys plant in Telford, with appreciation from the client and architect in the preblending process, to protect the integrity of the blend. The brickwork subcontractor made this build a reality, McCrory Brickwork were particularly conscientious, wanting to make sure the products would maintain their appeal from the sample to the finished masonry.
Martin continues, “McCrory’s have produced an excellent standard of workmanship and the finished brickwork often gets mistaken for a European Import, which is what our original brief requested. The Brickwork Subcontractor was initially worried about keeping the blends consistent across the linear facade but with the preblending they found the laying stage to be straight forward.”
Individually hand finished
The vertical recessed window detail, featured beneath the iconic ITV signage uses approximately 500 elongated ‘Dogleg’ Specials to provide the variety in colour range. It took 5 weeks for the blending process, where each special brick was individually hand finished to match the smooth face of the blend, from order to supply this only took the MBH PLC team 8 weeks to complete.
ITV chief executive Adam Crozier said, “it was vital that we have a modern, fit-for-purpose, creative hub outside of London. Coronation Street is an incredible brand and as we celebrate its 50th anniversary, it’s fantastic news that we are able to invest in the construction of a modern production centre to ensure that the nation’s best loved soap remains at the top of its game for another half a century.”
With a multitude of colour choices from MBH PLC’s collections comes a comprehensive service to help clients decide on a blend that best fits their style. Designers and builders are taking advantage of these new customisation options to build communities that appeal to the diversity of their buyers. This results in communities that are more visually interesting and buildings that incorporate higher sustainable values whilst retaining its appearance for generations to come.
