OVER 100 representatives from the UK's top architectural, housebuilding and design communities gathered at RIBA headquarters this month to attend Ibstock's guest lecture seminar by the widely respected designer and architect Wayne Hemingway of Hemingway Design.

OVER 100 representatives from the UK's top architectural, housebuilding and design communities gathered at RIBA headquarters this month to attend Ibstock's guest lecture seminar by the widely respected designer and architect Wayne Hemingway of Hemingway Design.

The RIBA seminar 'An Alternative View of Sustainable Living' introduced the topic of sustainable living for communities and discussed the ever popular and eco-friendly use of brick a 21st Century building material.

Hemingway contends that many of today's social problems of inner city and urban life are caused by poor planning, coupled with the lack of care and concern for how people live in communities. He argues that community based dwellings which are sympathetic to the sense of place and belonging will have a self-sustaining longevity, in direct contrast to the anonymity of the current city and town centres.

Ibstock fully supports Hemingway's philosophy and is committed to sustainable building design. Lex Harrison, Ibstock's Innovation and Design Manager comments "There is a strong feeling of safety and assurance connected with brick in the built environment. People feel very comfortable living and operating in brick clad communities; as such brick is the undisputed building fabric of choice for UK housing. For hundreds of years, its warmth, versatility, availability and charm has lasted the test of time. Today, in addition to its excellent thermal and whole life properties brick continues to reinvent itself to meet the needs of modern methods of construction, planning and building design, providing specifiers and developers with innovative and sustainable solutions for changing communities and environments."