Awards season is over for another year…

At Wienerberger UK, we support and enable the construction industry to create a better future for the built environment. We do this by providing a wide range of systems and solutions, creating long-lasting partnerships and nurturing exceptional, enduring careers.

We are dedicated to helping our customers thrive by developing unique solutions tailored to their distinct challenges. We understand that no two product requirements are identical, hence we place immense value on understanding our customers' needs to provide the most fitting solution. Our commitment to our customers’ success is unwavering. By continually tuning into their needs, we evolve alongside them, supplying products that align with their specifications. This enables them to design and construct awe-inspiring projects using our products.

November is awards season across the construction sector and we are proud to celebrate excellence across both brick, roof and facades. Through our sponsorship, we’ll be recognising the projects which showcase building products in the best possible light. The exciting part is that several entries that spotlight Wienerberger products have been shortlisted for numerous awards.

We started the month joining the rest of the industry to celebrate excellence in façade and cladding design at the Facade Awards UK 2023 in Manchester. The awards celebrate the achievements of facade contractors, manufacturers and suppliers who demonstrate an outstanding level of technical ability, an excellent quality of work, and showcase the superstars of the industry who have gone unnoticed. Our congratulations go to Longworth who managed to pick up the Best Use of a Brick Slip Cladding System award for their work on UCEN at Manchester College, a project which used our Corium product.

UCEN at Manchester College won the award for Best Use of a Brick Slip Cladding System at the Facade Awards. The project uses a Corium brick tile cladding system, in a schem inspired by the pattern of woven fabric.

Now in its 47th year, The Brick Awards held in London on 8 November, celebrated the best examples of clay brick in our built environment. Each year the awards attract the entry of exemplary projects from leading architects, housebuilders, developers and contractors, across 17 hotly-contested categories. It benefits from an exceptionally well-credentialled judging panel and has established a reputation as one of the industry’s most respected and well-attended events. We’re proud to be sponsoring the Innovation Award once again and are excited to have a selection of projects shortlisted who have used our products.

Picking up the Large Housing Category, well done to Pitman Tozer Architects for Kindred House in Croydon, London, a 25-storey mixed-use development on the site of a former carpark . This project featured our Zircon bricks and the judges commented on “The bold choice to hand-lay bricks off scaffold to deliver a high-quality finish and control to what is highly articulated and deep façade.”

When Hall McKnight Architects first visited this Listed 19th Century Convent, they encountered an under-used building with significant degrees of vacant, unused space. Using Wienerberger’s Marziale bricks they managed to transform the space into a building that was described by judges as “a scheme that has a magic quality, taking what was an underused building and creating a crafted approach with enormous sensitivity and care, and the project sits gracefully within the existing sandstone context”. This great work enabled the project to collect the Best Refurbishment prize beating off stiff competition.

Our congratulations go the Richard Dyer and Ketley Brick for their work on the Brick Tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth which picked up the Wienerberger sponsored Innovation Award. Constructed to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee, this unique representation of HM Queen Elizabeth II made entirely in brick relief is an innovative and lasting tribute. In picking the winner the judges said “It’s a wonderful and innovative use of bricks that highlights how clay bricks can add dimension to any façade. The bricks were crisp, clean, and solid with little or no blemish, enabling the light to run over the relief giving the appearance of a slowly moving face. A truly fitting piece of work blending tradition with innovation which was something the late Queen excelled at during her very long reign.”

We returned back to Manchester where we were proud to, once again, sponsor the Pitched Roofing Awards 2024. The awards highlight the successful partnerships between manufacturers, suppliers and contractors and a commitment to quality which is demonstrated by the teams who deliver the projects nominated.

Richardson Roofing came out on top as winners of the Best use of a Heritage Roof prize for their work on Peckham Rye Railway Station, showcasing our premium handmade Keymer clay tiles.

Finally, celebrating and rewarding design excellence in UK architecture, the AJ Architecture Awards were back for a sixth time. The awards highlight the very best projects across 17+ categories from housing, health, and wellbeing to workplace and cultural projects.

In the Heritage Project category, hats off to Hall Black Douglas Architects for their work on the Bank Building restoration in Belfast. It features our Autumn Russet brick and is one of those projects that has had great exposure over the last few months, being shortlisted for several awards.

Lastly, we highlight the great work done by R H Partnership Architects for Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. This project picked up the Higher Education Project and is a great example of using our tiles both on the roof (Alban Sussex) and in a vertical fixing (Keymer Traditional).

In summary, supporting and entering the awards is our opportunity to celebrate and showcase our customers’ projects, shining a light on the complex workmanship and high-quality products used for the project. Our congratulations to all the shortlisted and subsequent winning projects. It’s been another great design year across our industry. Here’s to an even more inspiring 2024.