Brick Awards 2024

We are delighted that Manresa House, our project for The Society of Jesus – Jesuits in Britain – has won the 2024 Small Housing Development Award at the Brick Awards.

The judges stated –
“The extensive use of clay brick, both internally and eternally works well. The project blends well into the local residential area and provides a suitable and safe environment for the training priests and the supporting staff at Manresa House.”

The project situated in Harbourne, Birmingham, provides a home for new entrants to spend the first two years of their training mentored and supported by the permanent senior community.

Situated within a large garden, the project consists of 24 bedrooms for guests, novices and senior community as well asa dining room, kitchen, offices, meeting rooms, a library and a new chapel. Based on historic monastic arrangements the building was conceived as a series of wings which radiate out from a retained nineteenth century house and these wings allow for varying degrees of privacy to be maintained whilst also giving clear legibility to each of the building elements.

The community asked the design team to respond to the encyclical “Laudato Si” issued by Pope Francis, which outlines the Catholic Church’s position on environmental sustainability. On-site renewables include highly efficient 125m deep ground source boreholes and PV panels, this combined with the high-performance building fabric, has dramatically limited CO2 emissions.