Weavers’ Hall, Dublin Road

Located on the Dublin Road in Belfast, Weavers’ Hall is a major new purpose-built student accommodation development designed to provide high-quality, energy-efficient living spaces within a carefully considered building envelope. Designed by RPP Architects and delivered by Graham Construction, the project adopts a fabric-first approach aligned with Passive House principles, with a strong emphasis on energy efficiency, airtightness and thermal performance.

IG Masonry Support was appointed to design and supply 927m of Welded Masonry Support (WMS) to support the external brickwork. The project presented a number of complex conditions at the slab edge, requiring the masonry support to be carefully coordinated with fire barriers, structural elements, thermal requirements and the stepped brick façade.

One of the key challenges was the limited space available at the slab edge, particularly where fire barriers could not be penetrated. The masonry support therefore had to be positioned around the fire barriers, with multiple fixing arrangements required across the building. In some areas, support had to be fixed to the face and underside of the slab. Concrete upstands and downstands were also introduced with each floor presenting different conditions.

The Thermal Break Plate arrangement required particularly careful detailing. A 5mm Thermal Break Plate was required in place of the standard arrangement, reducing the available tolerance for installation.

The masonry support also had to work around areas where brick piers were positioned alongside cladding. The masonry support brackets needed to be positioned further back while still providing the required support to the brickwork. This required detailed discussions with the architect to establish the correct arrangement.

The building incorporated areas multiple steps in the brickwork, with different brick colours positioned at varying depths. The masonry support needed to accommodate these changes while maintaining the intended appearance of the façade. In some locations, a stepping-out arrangement was required before the brickwork returned to its original position.

IG Masonry Support worked closely with RPP Architects and the wider design team to develop Welded Masonry Support arrangements that avoided penetrating the fire barriers. Where required, the system was fixed above or below the barrier and coordinated around concrete upstands and downstands. This allowed the masonry support to work within the restricted slab edge space while maintaining the required fire barrier arrangement.

Each Thermal Break Plate was individually drawn to correspond with its specific bracket design, ensuring the required height and thickness were accurately defined. The plates were then manufactured to these individual requirements and supplied to site. This approach gave us the precision needed to ensure each plate made full contact with, and fully supported, the bracket’s load-bearing zone. This preserved the bracket’s thermal performance and helped the project meet its Passive House requirements.

The 5mm Thermal Break Plate was an important part of the project’s fabric-first approach, helping to address heat transfer through the masonry support connection and supporting the thermal performance requirements associated with the Passive House design.

For the areas incorporating brick piers and adjacent cladding, IG Masonry Support worked with the architect to establish the appropriate masonry support bracket position. By moving the brackets further back where required, the support could accommodate the surrounding façade arrangement while still supporting the brickwork.

Bespoke masonry support details were developed to accommodate the stepped brickwork. The arrangement incorporated two sections within the stepping-out detail to follow the required brickwork geometry and maintain the intended façade design.

Through detailed design coordination and bespoke engineering, IG Masonry Support was able to integrate the WMS within the complex façade and slab-edge conditions at Weavers’ Hall. By working around the fire barriers, accommodating the Thermal Break Plate requirements and responding to the stepped brickwork and adjacent cladding, the masonry support package helped deliver the required architectural façade while supporting the project’s wider Passive House and fabric-first objectives.