Island

Location: Manchester

Brick Manufacturer: Furness

Brick Name: Natural Orange Handmade Brick Blend (clamp range)

Architect: Cartwright Pickard

Brickwork Contractor: Techrete

Located within the St Ann's conservation area in the heart of Manchester City Centre, Island is a new generation of workspace. Whilst modern and contemporary in appearance, it has been designed to be sympathetic to its context and to celebrate local heritage and craftsmanship. The building is designed to be net zero carbon, Nabers 5*, BREEAM Excellent, and WELL-enabled. Island encourages a new hybrid model of working, where seamless technology combines with a scheme design that enables people to work fluidly.

Chosen for their robustness and ability to age gracefully, the high-quality material palette includes orange brickwork pointed with dark mortar and a black/brown patinated steel base. Island has been widely recognized for its exemplary use of off-site manufactured brick-clad, precast cladding system.

The asymmetry in the facade is achieved with a relatively small number (six) of different repeated modules. Modules are replicated every two floors and mirrored on alternate floors, resulting in four floors that are the same and brick piers in just two sizes. By overlapping joints, the vertical joints are concealed in the window reveals so that they are not prominent within the facade. The visibility of horizontal joints is also minimized by introducing a soldier course at each floor level.

270 precast panels clad in over 270,000 bricks were craned into place with the windows already installed, before being fixed internally at the head and base. As the quality assurance process happens within the factory and before the panels arrive on site, we ensured the best possible finish and detailing. Precision mortar pointing, post-casting, was carried out inside Techrete's production hall prior to delivery.

Each panel is faced with a Natural Orange handmade brick blend by Furness, a Cumbrian brick manufacturer. This particular brick was chosen to tie in with the surrounding historical context and character. Full, standard bricks are cut in half and cast into the precast panels, essentially getting two bricks for the price of one. Bricks are cut and shaped to suit the details of the façade, with the angled sawtooth being a particularly complex example. Windows and decorative aluminum panels were also installed off-site by our subcontractor Acorn, who set up their own assembly bays in Techrete’s yard. Once installed, the building became watertight, allowing the internal finishes and services installation to commence, resulting in program savings.

Curved brick corners mimic the existing buildings surrounding our site. Headers were used to create smoother curves, which then transition back into standard stretcher bond. The setting out of these panels and the coordination of the slot windows took a lot of time and careful consideration, but the end result has been worth it.

A whole floor could be installed in just seven days, and the overall installation period for the entire facade was just 13 weeks.