The fast growing industry of sustainable building consistently calls for a number of measures to be employed by architects and builders alike.

Nowadays in the building psyche, there exists a need to choose high-efficiency materials, creating a superlative building to the highest possible level, whether it is the most excellent, the most sustainable, or the most eco-friendly.

In this flurry of regulation as seen in Part L of the Building Regulations and the Code for Sustainable Homes (see page 9), the demand for materials that will justify these types of accreditation is high. We now see experimentation in buildings, whose innards can consist of anything from mud to straw, or more commonly, timber, to deliver the regulatory standards.

However, a recent talk by architectural critic for the Guardian and honorary RIBA member, Jonathan Glancey, instilled a passionate and persuasive case for the often overlooked humble building brick; he dubbed it as the “cornerstone of civilisation”.

In his talk, Glancey drew comparisons between the workaday perceptions of traditional brick and their lasting contribution to the beauty and sustainability of the built environment.

Last year, it was former RIBA president Maxwell Hutchinson that sung the praises of bricks, who said: “The truth is that brick's unparalleled flexibility and continued evolution means that its only real limitation is the extent of our imaginations. With its ability to help solve new sustainability and cost-effectiveness issues, brick's relevance to the evolving urban landscape remains as strong as ever.”

 
Keith Barker, commercial director of brick manufacturer, Weinerberger, also makes the case for the 7000 year-old material: “Indeed, brick is the British vernacular and many of the country’s favourite and longest standing buildings are built and finished in brick.”

“In fact,” he says, “subject to the exact specification, clay brick and block can be used to help achieve Code Level 6 under the Code for Sustainable Homes. The manufacturing industry is stepping up to challenges such as zero carbon with new product innovation and by working closely with external bodies - such as the British Research Establishment (BRE) – to ensure we meet the latest standards.”

A recent Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) report found that installed brickwork beat a line-up of popular external skin finishes on value for money. The range of projects surveyed by RICS covered costs from £365,000 to £10.5m. The study compared the installed cost per square metre for brickwork against a string of rival external finishes, including fibre cement sheets, rendered blockwork, timber weatherboard, PVC cladding, plain tile cladding, ashlar stonework, and, at the highest end, curtain walling and patent glazing. 

“The major benefit to the cost-conscious builder is the whole life value of brick. It is the more cost effective than other forms of cladding and has unrivalled longevity. Think of the oldest buildings in the UK, still standing proud after hundreds of years and most will be built from brick,” says Barker.

The RICS report noted the materials that came in cheaper than brick were coupled with a lower life expectancy, or high life cycle cost, such as single fibre cement sheeting and painted render. The report concluded that brick is a very competitive option for the external skin.

Glancey said: “The humble brick links our present to our past, will not let us down and is comfortably familiar to us.”

He concluded: “For some reason, brick design is sometimes seen as slightly ‘low grade’ architecture in the UK. Over centuries, architects have often drawn their inspiration from overseas and they seek to produce it locally. With brick you can think truly globally and still act locally.”