Borough Yards, London

Built by Wates Group for developer MARK and designed by London-based architect SPPARC, Borough Yards’ features a number of transformed and re-purposed railway arches, viaducts and warehouses along with five new buildings, that weave their way from Borough Market to Clink Street. This new shopping and dining district also includes a cinema, art gallery and two new office buildings.

IG Masonry Support worked with brickwork contractor Lesterose, designing and supplying a number of complex prefabricated brickwork elements including Welded Masonry Support (WMS), Brick Slip Masonry Support and its renowned B.O.S.S.+ (Brick on Soffit System).

Challenge

In this landmark conservation area, the brickwork for the new buildings needed to compliment the existing brickwork on the repurposed viaducts and warehouses but also present their own unique character.

To meet these challenging design requirements, IG Masonry Support manufactured and supplied a range of prefabricated components that met both the wider considerations around planning in this conservation area and at the same time all fire and building regulations.

As part of the complex design for building 4, the architect and design team required a bespoke ‘floating’ brick feature presenting a jagged design. The utilisation of IG Masonry Support’s brick slips helped achieve the distinctive angled soffit design, offering a flawless and historic aesthetic in a modern, easy-to-install solution.

The distinctive spearheads featuring on building 2 were a separate hurdle but thanks to IG Masonry Support’s close collaboration with the contractors and the architect, it enabled an accurate and sufficient design. Installed over 4 level points of the building, these innovative spearheads, never seen before, were manufactured with glass reinforced concrete, and hand-laid brickwork in-between.

Customisable to the architect’s design wishes, the Brick Slip Systems and Masonry Support are prefabricated units manufactured offsite and delivered complete with bricks mechanically-fixed and bonded to them.

Due to the type of being brick being used on buildings 2, 3 and 4 being a weaker composition, this necessitated pre-pointing the brick slips in dry, controlled conditions in order to create a high quality, finished surface.

Solution

The bespoke elements for building 4 pushed the boundaries of IG Masonry Support and its products but through technical collaboration the jagged design features were achieved with angled soffits, ensuring a solution that met the architect’s specific requirements.



IG Masonry Support exceeded expectations with its Welded Masonry Support system and versatile B.O.S.S.+ (Brick on Soffit System), creating a seamless match with the surrounding brickwork.

Able to accommodate loads of up to and exceeding 14kN/m, IG’s Welded Masonry Support (WMS) is a rigid masonry support system comprising a stainless-steel angle support shelf with fixed brackets. It is fabricated to engineers’ specifications on a project basis and offers two planes of adjustability onsite. Offering ease-of-installation, the system can be supplied in a variety of configurations depending on the project’s requirements. At Borough Yards, the WMS was designed, manufactured and supplied by the IG Masonry Support team and installed across building 2 and 4 in order to support the application of the B.O.S.S. system.

The B.O.S.S.+ is a lightweight prefabricated system that is faster to install than traditional hanging brick systems. Installed to a pre-fitted Masonry Support System, B.O.S.S.+ allows increased adjustability along three axes. Produced offsite, B.O.S.S. offers 90% time saving onsite and negates the need for mechanical lifting. B.O.S.S.+ also removes the need for brick-cutting onsite, resulting in a quality system that is checked before it arrives onsite. This BBA-certified unit is an ‘A’ Fire Rated, BBA certified and mechanically-fixed unit, suitable for use on residential buildings over 18m above ground level and complies with the Building Regulations 2010* Approved Document B: Fire Safety.

Not only is the system versatile, it offers ease-of-installation and enables time-savings onsite. The bespoke solution offers a 70% weight-saving against an equivalent concrete product, negating the need for mechanical handling and onsite labour. These were significant benefits on this mixed-used development in particular.

An integral part of the street scene and conservation area, these stunning new buildings sit side-by-side with the historic viaducts and warehouses. The presence of IG Masonry Support’s systems and the company’s technical prowess has ensured this landmark Southwark development is thoughtfully planned, well-built and a sought-after attraction in South London.