House at Lough Beg

The new-build family home, winner of three acclaimed regional and national design awards, is an exemplar of how centuries-old natural landscapes can help shape the look and character of modern buildings. Bright, spacious, and respectful of the open parkland views and historic woodland, House at Lough Beg was built on the site of a long-demolished home property built in the 1840s. The new building was constructed using handmade bricks in hues of grey and a zinc roof to facilitate its harmonization with darkened trees that border and stretch beyond the property.

The client required a series of intense, complex brick details as part of the House at Lough Beg design. A brick soffit system including masonry support facilitated the creation of a floating corner (with no support post), making for an innovative design feature on the home’s exterior left flank. For the interior, IG Masonry Support also supplied Brick Slip Lintels. These were essential to augmenting a door opening with an attractive floating brick feature.

Although ideal for the project in terms of colour, the buildings handmade, oversized bricks complicated matters when it came to ensuring detailing blended with existing bond patterns. This also impacted the design of all IG Masonry Support products which needed to be engineered to fine tolerances.

For the building’s exterior floating corner, IG Masonry Support’s mechanically-fixed brick slip system proved the ideal solution. In total, 21m² of the lightweight system was used as part of the installation including our masonry support system. This was fixed back to a concrete backing structure. In relation to the interior door openings, IG Masonry Support’s Brick Slip Lintels ensured a smart, uniform finish.

As with each solution within the IG Masonry Support product range, our brick slip lintels are prefabricated. In the case of the House at Lough Beg project, the brick slip system was delivered to site with the bricks bonded to its stainless steel carrier unit. This made for an easy, rapid, and more cost-effective installation. The prefabricated nature of IG Masonry Support’s manufacturing process also allowed each product to be engineered to the finest tolerances. It helped overcome the irregular brick size issue, with offsite adjustments being made to the company’s standard product profile. This limited the requirement for traditional brickwork at certain build points.

Supplied ready to install directly to the site with consistent quality guaranteed throughout all components, IG Masonry Support met each of the client’s requirements for this outstanding building project. Ten years in its creation from architect design to build completion, House at Lough Beg is a dream home built on a labour of love. The aesthetic considerations that enable the building to complement its historic, rural landscape are a credit to the architect, and property owner/builder, Hugh Graham, who paid tribute to the input IG Masonry Support had in realising his vision.

He said: “I was a self-builder with no construction experience and from the outset, IG Masonry Support took me seriously. They appointed Paul Graham to oversee my project and he provided excellent advice that helped me to build our amazing home.

“The house is built with handmade bricks which made them difficult to work with. It was the products IG Masonry Support selected and the way of implementing details they suggested that allowed us to use the bricks to highlight the unique characteristics of the house that our architect designed. Without IG Masonry Support and those details, the finished project would not be as successful as it has turned out.”

House at Lough Beg was the recipient of three architectural awards in 2022: Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) National Award; Royal Society of Ulster Architects (RSUA) Design Award; RSUA Client of the Year.