Products used: MechSlip, Brick Slips - Ivanhoe Katrina

Project location: Bristol

Brickwork Contractor: Bouygues & Kyotec

Castle Park View is the flagbearer for Bristol’s multimillion pound regeneration project, offering 300 build-to-rent homes and 75 affordable dwellings in Bristol’s newest and now tallest building.

Bristol’s Castle Park View, just a stone’s throw across the River Avon from Bristol’s thriving city centre, is a new development undergoing an incredible transformation from brownfield site to high specification living spaces, giving soon-to-be renters access to one of the most up-and-coming areas in the UK.

Aiming to meld historic features with modern architectural and building practices, the developers, Chapman Taylor, brought to bear innovative building products from some of the UK’s most renowned manufacturers to enable the stunning design.

Consisting of three sections, a 10-story block connected by a lower building to a 28-story tower, the development provides a business centre, reception and leisure facilities for residents, all while holding the record for Bristol’s tallest building, standing at 98m tall. The most striking feature of the new development is its cladding – with brick facades interspersed with long stretches of glass – which envelopes the development in a modern design with classical throwbacks.

Chapman Taylor identified MechSlip as the right solution for a development the size and scale as Castle Park View, recognising the need for a system which combines safety, aesthetic appeal and ease-of-install, while, crucially, specifiable at height.

All told, MechSlip provided a litany of advantages over competing cladding solutions for Castle Park View, not least its A1 fire rating, certified by UKAS accredited laboratory Warrington Fire. With the cladding on high-rise accommodation facing increased scrutiny post-Grenfell Tower, Chapman Taylor were able to rest assured that they had specified a system which had been stringently tested in a real world environment.

By utilising both Ibstock brick slips and Ash & Lacy high-grade aluminium support rails, MechSlip therefore contains no combustible parts.

What’s more, with lightweighting a key concern for the development, MechSlip, at more than 50% lighter than traditional masonry, enabled a significant reduction in overall structural load, while the genuine Ibstock Brick finish provided an elegant tone, in keeping with the wider local vernacular.

Irina Hughes, Design Advisor at Ibstock, said: “It’s incredible to see the designs that MechSlip can allow, combining the solid reliability of brick with ease of install and safety requirements needed from modern cladding. And the design of Castle Park View is not only safe and practical, but also beautiful, and will provide its new residents with homes they’ll be proud to live in, in such a bustling area.

We know that all involved – from future residents to local and national stakeholders – can rest assured that the MechSlip cladding solution is designed with the upmost safety and quality in mind.”

Ibstock Brick Ltd