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Brampton Brick’s Mike Kriesel works with architects on design consultation and decarbonization. Earlier this year, he shared these hidden perks of the supplier relationship at the OAA’s annual conference held in Sudbury.
The industry faces ambitious targets for carbon neutrality, and there may be questions of whether there are enough architects to help reach net zero. According to the Government of Canada’s Job Bank, more than 18,000 architects were working across Canada in 2021, but supply may not be meeting demand.
As a result of job vacancies and employment growth, “this occupational group is expected to face labour shortage conditions over the period of 2022 to 2031 at the national level,” says a recent government report. This problem is compounded by a major labour shortage in construction.
Reaching net zero will require teamwork.
The solution might lie in the whole design ecosystem, including supplier knowledge and technologies. Suppliers like Brampton Brick do more than masonry.
“We’re not just product pushers—we’re here to help design and facilitate projects,” says Mike Kriesel, director of architecture for masonry and landscape products at Brampton Brick. He and his team consult on designs to save space, time, and meet project budgets.
“What was once a transactional relationship between designer and supplier has evolved into a collaborative partnership,” Kriesel explains. At the 2023 OAA Conference in June, the industry veteran outlined the company’s progression, and how architects can take advantage of its landscape architecture support and decarbonization technologies on the path to net zero.
Leveraging supplier knowledge and tools to reach net zero
Brampton Brick has been around since 1871; by 1960, the company was among the most advanced brick makers in the world. Still, it only supplied materials. Its mission has since evolved beyond clay bricks, concrete blocks, and stone, recognizing its bigger place in the community.
As President Jeffrey G. Kerbel writes on the company’s website, “Architecture plays a very important role in the evolution of society. The way our surroundings work in concert with function and aesthetics affect us more than we realize, shaping how we live and influencing our cultural identity.”
Company offerings expanded to reflect these values, adds Kriesel.
“We’re becoming that consultant resource for people, providing value beyond building materials.”
It starts with landscapes.
Landscape architecture for space-saving design
“A lot of times, architects are surprised that we have a landscape engineer on our staff,” Kriesel laments. If designers and suppliers worked together more closely, projects might run smoother from the outset.
“We’re just as big on the landscape side as we are on the masonry side. We can provide solutions up front. When someone buys up property, right then is when you’re deciding: where’s that retaining wall going? How much space can I maximize? That’s the type of help we provide.”
This space-saving advice also saves money, Kriesel continues.
“Now, you can put those extra three homes in, or a condo can go up an extra couple of floors to maximize the return on investment. Then, that becomes a copy-and-paste blueprint for future projects.”
But one encouraging development that points to a deeper relationship between suppliers and designers is the variety of questions the Brampton Brick team receives from architects.
“They’re asking about different design details,” he emphasizes. “That out-of-the-box thinking. They’re trying to achieve something different than a plain old wall. We can help them achieve that. We do more than manufacture clay brick.”
Decarbonization technology to reduce the footprint of concrete
The biggest industry question lately surrounds embodied carbon and sustainability for new builds. Concrete and cement make up 8% of global CO2 emissions, and since concrete is so widely used, reducing the footprint of this particular material is a priority for the industry, and for Brampton Brick.
Carboclave, produced in the company’s Cambridge, Ontario facility, is made with carbon-sequestering technology.
“There’s a big push to reach net zero,” Kriesel says. “Concrete can easily move into that realm. Carboclave is starting to take hold in larger projects like schools and community centres. Since it doesn’t cost more, it’s perfect for high-volume. To sequester carbon and tell that story is kind of neat for those customers.”
The company says Carboclave is superior in quality, stronger, with lower absorption than traditional concrete blocks, and offers a 50% reduction in embodied carbon. In total, Carboclave projects have sequestered more than 7,500 tonnes of carbon, according to the company’s website.
Carboclave is not new. Still, Kriesel says, “Architects are not as aware of Carboclave as they could be. That’s part of my job. To help architects and designers understand these products exist and how to go about using them.”
There is still some work to be done as architects leverage all aspects of the design ecosystem. Increased collaboration between architects and suppliers, and recognizing everything suppliers have to offer, is one example. A fortified architect-supplier relationship could lead to more innovative designs and a clearer path to net-zero emissions.
