Norham Gardens

Location: Oxford

Brick Manufacturers: Ibstock PLC / HG Matthews Ltd

Brick Names: Swanage Handmade Light Red Multi 65mm, Swanage Handmade Light Red Multi Coping / Wood Fired 65mm Facing Brick

Architect: Wright & Wright

Brickwork Contractor: Caxton Brickwork

Designed by Wright & Wright Architect’s for St Edmund Hall, the Norham Gardens development demonstrates how high-quality brick architecture can sensitively unite heritage, sustainability, and contemporary student living within the North Oxford Victorian Suburb Conservation Area.  

Delivering 127 ensuite student bedrooms alongside generous communal spaces and biodiverse gardens, the scheme combines the retrofit of an 1890s Victorian Villa with three new Passivhaus residential buildings, creating a cohesive development deeply rooted in its historic context. 

Brickwork was a central part of the project’s approach, helping the new buildings relate to the surrounding Victorian townscape while establishing a contemporary identity. The scheme uses carefully detailed brick masonry, cast stone elements, handmade clay tiles, and traditional brick boundary walls to reflect the materials and character of the conservation area.  

The project placed a strong emphasis on sustainability and long-term performance. The new buildings use cross-laminated timber structures to reduce embodied carbon, while the brick facades provide durability and handmade tactility that help ground the buildings in their context.  

Brick detailing was developed to meet stringent Passivhaus requirements to achieve airtightness and energy efficiency without losing the quality of the external facades. The retained villa, meanwhile, was upgraded using EnerPhit principles to deliver an exemplary deep retrofit.  

Handmade light red multi bricks were chosen, produced by Swanage. Blue Ibstock bricks accent the facades in the form of stringer courses and below the ground floor windows. Cast stone elements are used for window cills and lintels to the street elevations, along with floor level banding to lower levels, helping provide a hierarchy and sense of human scale to the elevations.  

Differing brick bonds across the site including Flemish, soldier, stretcher, English and English garden wall bonds to reflect the context and add subtle variation and interest to all brick elements. 

The landscape strategy, reinforces the relationship between the development and its setting. Brick garden walls, cast-iron railings, and native planting reference traditional North Oxford landscape features and help the scheme sit comfortability within the surrounding area.  

Climate resilient landscaping and bio-solar green roofs provide an 88% biodiversity net gain, with the tweedy terracotta tones of the brickwork providing a perfect backdrop on which to celebrate this network of green that permeates throughout all areas of the site. Brick specials also provide vital habitats for bats and birds within the facades. 

The quality of the masonry work was delivered by Caxton Brickwork, led by Kevin Watkins, who has more than 30 years of industry experience.  Kevin’s team of bricklayers worked across the project with a focus on consistency, detailing and construction quality throughout the sample mock ups and build process. The project also provided opportunities for apprentices and trainees to gain experience working alongside skilled craftspeople, supporting the development of traditional bricklaying skills within a contemporary residential project.  

Norham Gardens demonstrates how design and construction can enrich student living while responding sensitively to its historic setting. Through carefully crafted brick architecture and sustainable living, the project creates lasting value for students and the Oxford community.