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Month: April 2023

BLOG | Prefabricated masonry techniques elevate brick’s status as a sustainable building material

Posted on by Siobhan Martin

Brick is one of the world’s most sustainable building materials. Reliable, durable, and recyclable, bricks’ evolution as a low-impact product has been hastened by the introduction of increasingly innovative masonry support systems. As Jemma Ison (Keystone Group Sustainability Manager and IG Masonry Support Specification Executive) highlights, these prefabricated techniques have not only expanded the architect’s palette in terms of brickwork design, they have advanced and simplified the build process to give bricks a sustainable advantage over other established materials.

Masonry is a classic and timeless building material that achieves superior, maintenance-free results. Utilising masonry in prominent areas can be essential to delivering an architect’s overall vision, or fulfilling a client’s brief to ensure a project remains in keeping with the local surroundings. Brick Slip Systems are adaptable to suit any application. Ideal for small openings over window heads but also deliver effortless results spanning an entrance of a commercial building. Whatever the desired finish, IG Masonry Support‘s prefabricated units provide high-quality results at low environmental impact.

Time and energy saver

The average time it takes to create intricate masonry details with prefabricated brick slip solutions is estimated to reduce time by 90% in comparison to traditional onsite methods. As well as the time-saving factor there are many other benefits associated with offsite production, from improved construction efficiencies and reduced onsite waste to minimal site impacts due to the fit-and-forget design. Furthermore, a prefabricated unit is produced in line with manual handling guidelines. Therefore, designed to be easily managed and handled onsite. This eliminates the consumption of any fuel or electricity needed to aid the installation process.

Skills shortage

Whilst highlighting the direct and indirect sustainable benefits of these prefabricated methods, it is also a recognised challenge that traditional techniques require the services of a highly-skilled bricklayer. In the current climate, this might not be an appointment that is easy to secure. The bricklaying sector, as with the construction industry as a whole, is in the midst of a well-publicised skills shortage. Indeed, the Construction Skills Network (CSN) has forecast a need for 1,450 more bricklayers per year over the next five years to help fulfil UK building projects. Therefore, it could mean an appropriately-qualified bricklayer travelling many miles to work on a particular project, a journey that would incur additional fuel consumption and environmental impacts.

Natural hindrances to efficient brick detailing 

When it comes to achieving intricate brick details, a building site is far from the ideal environment. Poor weather can hamper high-quality workmanship and build consistency. This can lead to reworks and additional project time, cost, and material waste. Whereas offsite manufacture takes place in a controlled environment, enabling products such as brick slip systems to be produced with greater skill and accuracy.

Safe and adaptable solution  

Due to their A1 fire-rated finish, IG Masonry Support’s prefabricated brick slip products provide peace of mind to specifiers due to their reliability and compliance with building regulations. The product range includes the company’s ultra-lightweight brick on soffit system, B.O.S.S A1. A component building part, the product’s superb performance is supplemented by its sustainable credentials, which are supported by its carbon neutral classification. In addition, IG Masonry Support’s Brick Slip Arches have increased design options for architects looking to use masonry in evermore striking and imaginative ways. Manufactured offsite, the Brick Slip Arches are bespoke designed to order, and delivered to site replete with brick slips adhesively bonded to a stainless-steel unit. These lightweight units facilitate fast and efficient installation and integrate seamlessly with brickwork constructed onsite.

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Environmental Product Declarations

IG Masonry Support is committed to becoming a net-zero carbon business in line with the Science Based Targets. Its adoption of Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) is further evidence of its sustainable ambition. The company is the UK’s first masonry support supplier to issue EPDs on its products, thus providing full transparency of their environmental impact. The declarations are in accordance with GreenBook Live EPD system.

A Type III environmental label, an EPD is generated using data obtained through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This is performed via a peer reviewed Product Category Rules document (PCR) in line with EN 15804 (the European Standard for the generation of EPD for construction products), ISO 14025, and other related international standards.

Dual benefit

In terms of their installation, IG Masonry Support is the only UK manufacturer to offer a solution that has dual security using an A1 fire-rated adhesive as well as a secondary stainless steel mechanical fix, providing safety and added aesthetic consistency.

In short, prefabricated brick slip systems are ideal for wherever an intricate brick detail is required. Their specification and installation are made all the easier and more effective through engagement with a prefabricated brick slip specialist such as IG Masonry Support. The company’s single point of contact controls the design, pricing, and manufacturing process, providing tentative support and expert communication throughout a project.

Quality, consistency, and greater sustainability are the ultimate outcomes of the correct specification of prefabricated brick slip solutions, which are gaining in popularity as developers and architects look to expand the use of one of the world’s oldest, most reliable building materials.

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NEWS | Bond between businesses and schools helps inspire a new generation of construction-based talent

Posted on by Siobhan Martin

An enterprising tie-in between businesses and local schools is bearing fruit by helping students gain a foot on the career ladder whilst addressing the construction industry’s recruitment crisis. 

Leading masonry support manufacturer, IG Masonry Support, based in Swadlincote, Derbyshire has taken on three employees from nearby Pingle Academy. It follows the company’s joining of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, which connects employers and education in the east Midlands area. Over the past 10 years the government-backed initiative has secured £1.5 billion investment and 20,000 jobs across the region.

The programme has been a resounding success for IG Masonry Support and its Managing Director Andy Neal, who was recruited as a D2N2 Enterprise Advisor in 2021.  He said: “When I was approached to a be a Career Enterprise Advisor, I didn’t really know what the role entailed. But I was interested in linking-up with a local school to help benefit the local community. It was also an opportunity to see if the Academy had a pool of talent that could benefit IG Masonry Support.”

Prior to the first meeting between the school and IG Masonry Support, an impromptu survey revealed that nine senior staff from across the company were educated at Pingle Academy. With many of the teachers still known to the former students, it enabled a beneficial partnership to rapidly establish between the two parties. It’s led to IG Masonry Support’s ex-Pingle Academy employees returning to their alma mater to give lectures on their post-education progress in the construction-based manufacturing sector.

Deb Holland, Assistant Principal at Pingle Academy, said the former students were as ‘delighted’ to revisit their old seat of learning, as the Academy was to host them. “It’s great to see that our students have gone on to do fabulous things,” she said. “It’s also quite special that they’ve given up their time to come and talk to current students. Hearing first-hand their account of what they’ve achieved at IG Masonry Support and what career options the company offers has helped to inspire students to follow in their footsteps.”

A key element of the mutually beneficial partnership is current Pingle Academy students being able to take part in pre-arranged tours of IG Masonry Support Group’s state-of-the-art production facility. One such visit led to an appointment that defies protocol and generally involves young talent being headhunted by an employer.

“Charlie, a Pingle Academy school leaver, managed to obtain my email address,” Andy Neal said. “His message was fairly succinct and straight to the point and essentially read, ‘I want to work for your business’. The direct approach paid dividends for Charlie who is currently making great strides as an apprentice at IG Masonry Support.

Statistics spell trouble in meeting future building needs

The ongoing skills shortage throughout the UK building industry has reached ‘alarming’ proportions, according to a recent Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) survey. It showed 75% of contractors had issues recruiting skilled operatives, a statistic that will do nothing to assist the government’s plan to tackle the country’s long-running housing shortage.

The UK’s journey to net-zero could also be impacted by a lack of building talent if a survey conducted by Balfour Beatty and the Supply Chain Sustainability (SCSS) is anything to go by. Of the 270 supply chain members in England, Ireland and Wales contacted for the report between August and October 2022, 96% of respondents said they had a shortfall in access to skilled people in the construction sector to meet net zero by 2050.

The building sector’s struggle to replace retirees with younger operatives is partly to blame for its diminishing talent pool. It highlights the need for greater links between employers and places of education to inspire a new generation to take up tools to help meet the country’s future infrastructural needs.

Andy Neal continued: “I would certainly advise other businesses to engage with their local schools. We can provide real-world experience in a range of jobs that also cater for non-academic youngsters. Gone are the days when construction-based firms could expect to have hundreds of career-hungry school leavers beat a path to their door. As a sector we are competing with many other trades and interests to attract the best young recruits.

“The Local Enterprise Partnership has been a superb vehicle in allowing us to get in front of students to promote ourselves as a business and as a viable career option. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Pingle Academy for its incredible support in establishing a relationship that I trust will remain beneficial to ourselves, the students and the wider community for many years to come.”

 

 

 

EVENT | Free CPD Webinar Series for 2023

Posted on by Siobhan Martin

IG Masonry Support announces the launch of a free Continuous Professional Development (CPD) webinar series for 2023. The series features both of IG’s current CPDs; ‘Achieving Intricate Brick Features’ and Specifying Sustainability.

The first webinar ‘Specifying Sustainability’ will take place on Thursday 20th April from 12 – 12:30 pm and will be led by our Specification Executive, Jemma Ison. Jemma will explore how offsite construction and conscious material selection can promote a circular economy. During the 30-minute webinar, she will delve deep into the global challenge and the need to decarbonise our sector, awareness of the sustainable benefits of offsite construction solutions, sustainable material selection to promote a circular economy, and how the Keystone Group is proactively delivering Net Zero applications.

Two webinar sessions will be available per month throughout the whole of 2023. As well as the ‘Specifying Sustainability’ CPD, on offer is also our ‘Achieving Intricate Brick Features’ CPD. This webinar explores brick soffit systems and the support of masonry cladding on framed buildings.

Jemma Ison, Specification Executive and Keystone Group Sustainability Manager commented: “IG Masonry Support recognises the importance of architects, specifiers, and engineers keeping abreast of modern methods of construction and how they can support and improve future projects. We truly understand that work time is precious and so is continuous professional development therefore we feel that short, concise webinar sessions will support this development in the most effective and time-conscious way.”

To book or find out more about the CPDs and dates available throughout 2023, visit our CPD page.