Bye-bye Brickie

When McCavana Development's bricklayers heard about Novabrik, they weren't impressed. "They didn't like the thought of it," says contracts manager Sean McCavana. And who can blame them in the face of a product that does away with the need for mortar and requires little training to use.

Acheson & Glover Group, which makes the concrete-based product under licence from Canadian firm Novabrik, approached McCavana at just about the right time, however.

"It was a wet winter and we were held back with the trades so we decided we would try it," he says.

When the bricklayers saw it, he adds, "they couldn't fault it".

Novabriks are simply thin ‘bricks' with an upside-down V extending from the back edge of them (see above). They are simply hooked over the previous course, no mortar required.

Using traditional bricks and mortar McCavana's four bricklayers, with two labourers, took 12 weeks to build the walls of the first 12-apartment timber frame block of a Belfast development. Two joiners and an apprentice did a second, identical one, in seven weeks using Novabriks.

"Building control thought it was a great job," says McCavana. "It just looks like perfect brickwork."

Because Novabrik is mortarless, bad weather does not stop it going up and there is no limit to the number of courses which can go up in a day. The first course goes onto a purpose-made polymer starter track, with every fourth course fixed with screws onto vertical battens.

Labour saving

The manufacturer recommends wet or dry bench-sawing for cutting the Novabriks and says that a limited number of specials, such as for internal and external returns and angles, are needed.

McCavana says the biggest savings come from time and labour costs. "We used joiners but you could train nearly anybody," he says.

Materials work out cheaper, he claims, since there is no need for steel lintels or mortar. On the first block, he says, the mortar alone cost £4,000. Finishing the blocks early also meant they could get the buyers in and realise cash from the development sooner.

Another benefit is that Novabrik walls don't need air vents or expansion joints, as they interlock to form a weathertight wall while allowing air to flow into the wall cavity. They are good for timber frames, since a shortage of bricklayers can often be the limiting factor in the speed of such developments, although Acheson & Glover says they will work with blockwork or even on refurbishment.

McCavana is convinced: he's already planning to use it on two more developments.

But understandably the bricklayers aren't so keen.