News
Pine Hall Brick Company permeable clay pavers used in award-winning project in Pennsylvania.
The Silver Award, in the Paving & Landscaping Category, was handed down to the Ambler Square Park project in Ambler, Pennsylvania; landscape architect Gilmore & Associates; masonry contractor GoreCon Inc.; brick distributor Church Brick Company and brick manufacturer Pine Hall Brick Company.
The project made use of Pine Hall Brick Company’s StormPave permeable pavers in Full Range, Dark Accent and Gray The pavers effectively slow water runoff and promote innovative and sustainable stormwater solutions in a public park setting.
Rainwater falls on the pavers, goes around gaps in between them and then into a series of layered aggregates underneath. Some penetrates into the ground below; and some is collected and re-directed into rain gardens on the surface.
In all, 49 awards were handed out in the Best in Class, Gold, Silver and Bronze categories in the BIA contest. A total of 138 entries – almost twice the amount over the past three years – were received from the United States, Australia, Canada and Mexico.
Leonhard praised brick’s natural beauty, its durability, its energy efficiency and its low maintenance as qualities that make brick the best choice for a building material.
“We are always happy to be part of a winning project,” said Doug Rose, paver sales manager for Pine Hall Brick Company. “But the real winners are the citizens of Ambler, Pennsylvania, who will have a beautiful public park for decades to come.”
Within the park, the brick colors were chosen to provide a unique, eye-catching pattern and also to tell the story of the Tannery Run, which flows underneath the park site.
Tannery Run was a stream that powered a bark mill used by the Faust Tannery, which originally made boots and shoes and later, leather harnesses for horses. The Tannery was in business for more than 100 years. Founded in 1790, the company used tree bark, processed by the mill powered by the stream, as an integral part of leathermaking.
The business did well until after World War I, when trucks and automobiles replaced horse-drawn vehicles. By 1925, the business had closed.
Using StormPave permeable pavers promotes the natural filtering of rainwater, which is particularly important here.
Tannery Run is one of the three main sub- watersheds/tributaries that flow to the Wissahickon Creek, then to the Schuykill River in Philadelphia, the Delaware River, the Delaware Bay and ultimately, the Atlantic Ocean near Cape May, N.J.
Brick in Architecture Awards Competition by BIA
BIA is the nationally recognized authority on clay brick construction representing the nation’s distributors and manufacturers of clay brick and suppliers of related products. www.gobrick.com / 703-620-0010.
About Pine Hall Brick Co. Inc.
Based in Winston-Salem, NC, Pine Hall Brick Company is a 100-year-old family-owned company that manufactures face, paving and special shape clay brick for the residential and commercial construction industry. It operates plants in North Carolina and Georgia and sells brick products in more than 35 different states, with a main market area located in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia. For more information, please visit www.pinehallbrick.com.
The above announcement is from Pine Hall Brick Company.
Have a press release you’d like us to share? Send it to us here.
