Kinlan Brickwork Ltd

Project 1: No 3. Circle Square

Location: Manchester

Brick Manufacturer: York Handmade Brick Company

Brick Name: Thirkleby Waterstruck

Architect: Bridge Architects

Project 2: Waterhouse Gardens

Location: Manufacturer

Brick Manufacturer: Other UK

Architect: Studio Power

Kinlan Brickwork Ltd is a specialist brickwork subcontractor delivering masonry packages throughout England. The business has been established for 14 years and operates multiple projects simultaneously, with a workforce spanning directly employed operatives, apprentices, supervisory staff and office-based management.

Kinlan Brickwork has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to health, safety, quality, and workforce development throughout the past year, consistently driving standards beyond compliance and embedding a proactive culture across all operations.

The business continues to strengthen its integrated management approach, working towards ISO 9001 accreditation while ensuring full compliance with the Building Safety Act and maintaining rigorous quality assurance procedures throughout project delivery. Quality management processes are embedded at both operational and management level, ensuring consistent workmanship, robust record keeping, and continuous improvement across all sites.

Kinlan Brickwork’s safety performance over the last 12 months has been exemplary. The company has achieved zero RIDDOR-reportable incidents and recorded only one minor personal harm incident across all operations. This reflects the organisation’s ongoing commitment to its Zero Harm Policy and its determination to create safer working environments for all employees and subcontractors.

A key driver behind this performance has been the development of a positive reporting culture through significantly increased near-miss reporting, regular toolbox talks, behavioural safety engagement, and targeted workforce training. Extensive investment has been made in upskilling both site management teams and operatives, with over 120 operatives undertaking training courses throughout the year alongside continued professional development for office and management staff. Training has included Mental Health First Aid, Fire Marshal training, Face fit tester, and numerous CPD seminars to improve operational awareness and safety leadership throughout the business.

Kinlan Brickwork has also implemented comprehensive occupational health surveillance programmes to support workforce wellbeing and proactively monitor health risks associated with construction activities. In addition, the business has introduced significantly enhanced work at height controls for Mast Climbing Working Platform (MCWP) operations, improving planning, supervision, rescue arrangements, and operational controls across all applicable projects.

To further reduce workplace exposure risks, Kinlan Brickwork has invested heavily in off-site cutting facilities, substantially minimising on-site dust and noise exposure for operatives and surrounding environments. These controls, combined with improved respiratory protective equipment compliance and better exposure management, demonstrate the company’s forward-thinking approach to occupational health and environmental safety.

Through leadership, innovation, training, and continuous improvement, Kinlan Brickwork continues to set a high standard within the brickwork sector, demonstrating that outstanding safety performance and high-quality high rise project delivery go hand in hand.

Kinlan currently supports 10 apprentices. We focus not only on starting apprenticeships but on supporting individuals through to completion and long-term employment within the company. Apprentices work alongside experienced tradespeople on live projects, with mentoring from site supervisors and regular progress reviews tied to NVQ and trade competency milestones We measure our training investment by outcomes, not intake numbers.

Project 1: No 3. Circle Square

No.3 Circle Square is a next-generation office building located in the heart of Manchester’s Oxford Road Corridor Innovation District. It’s designed to be one of the most environmentally responsible office buildings in the city, aiming for Net Zero embodied carbon during construction. This means that great care is being taken to reduce the carbon footprint of the materials and building process.

The building’s design is inspired by Manchester’s red-brick heritage — especially the classic Georgian and Victorian buildings and the city’s famous railway architecture. The exterior uses a deep red, handmade brick laid in a long, narrow format for a more elegant, modern look. The brick is paired with darker mortar to create a rich, textured finish.

At street level, the building features large brick arches filled with clear structural glass. These create a grand and welcoming entrance to the office reception area. Next to these arches are rectangular openings that mark out retail spaces and service areas — helping people easily tell which parts of the building are for public use and which are more private or functional.

Higher up, the windows follow a regular, rhythmic pattern and are set deep into the wall. This gives the building a solid, strong feel while also helping with insulation and energy performance. Instead of running ventilation through rooftop systems, the building breathes through the windows allowing more space on the roof for solar panels, which reduce energy use over time.

To make this work, air vents are built into the window surrounds and cleverly hidden using decorative perforated brick panels. These not only serve a technical purpose but also add interesting texture and craftsmanship to the design.
Throughout the façade, special brick patterns like projecting bricks, perforated panels, and horizontal ‘soldier’ courses add visual depth and richness to the overall appearance. All of these design choices come together to create a building that’s not only functional and sustainable but also fits beautifully into its urban surroundings.

Project 2: Waterhouse Gardens

The Waterhouse Gardens development is a major residential and commercial scheme built on the former Boddingtons Brewery site in Manchester, right opposite the AO Arena. It’s a key part of the wider regeneration of the city centre, and it’s a sizeable job in every sense.

Across the six buildings, the brickwork scope alone was huge, with over 1.4 million bricks installed over the course of the project. At the busiest point on site, the team was laying around 44,000 bricks a week, which meant keeping a steady workforce of close to 100 operatives on the job to stay on programme.

To keep things moving at that pace, a mix of traditional scaffolding and mast climbers was used. The mast climbers made a big difference, allowing the bricklayers to work safely and efficiently across multiple elevations at the same time, especially on the taller sections of the scheme.

In terms of materials, there was a good mix used across the buildings. Buff and red bricks formed the main palette, giving each block a slightly different character, while green glazed bricks were introduced in selected feature areas. These glazed panels really stood out once installed and added a bit of contrast to the more traditional brickwork.

There was also a fair amount of technical detail involved in the brickwork. The teams had to deal with angled brickwork where the building geometry changed, along with bespoke brick sizes to avoid awkward cuts and keep everything clean and consistent. Soldier courses were used throughout for detailing and visual breaks, and there were also several arched openings that required carefully set-out radial brickwork to form the lintels properly.

Quality was a big focus throughout the job. In total, around 10,000 individual QA checks were completed across the brickwork package. Each one recorded things like alignment, workmanship, and compliance with the design drawings. It created a solid paper trail that was handed over at the end of the project, showing exactly how the brickwork was delivered across the entire 1.4 million bricks.