Woodland Quad, Wellington College
Leviat’s bespoke brickwork support solutions play a crucial role in delivering complex brickwork details for Wellington College’s award-winning CLT framed Woodland Quad.
Nestled amongst the existing Scots pine woodlands of Wellington College’s historic Crowthorne campus, this multi award-winning development comprises three complimentary buildings: a new Sixth Form boarding house with 70 en-suite student bedrooms, a new day house with modern teaching, study and social spaces, and an energy centre that supplies ground source low-carbon heating to both the new development and the wider College campus.
Constructed on the site of the college’s former laundry, the buildings are designed in modernist style, with distinctive curved and serrated features to maximise natural light and a highly articulated brick façade that sits them comfortably within their woodland surroundings, whilst respecting the existing historical architecture of the campus.
To help achieve Wellington’s long-term de-carbonisation ambitions, designers, MICA Architects, adopted an innovative hybrid construction strategy, involving a pioneering engineered primary structural frame of cross-laminated timber (CLT), which was fabricated off-site in just 45 days and rapidly assembled on site, significantly lowering embodied carbon and dramatically cutting campus disruption.
The Challenge
Unlike conventional cavity wall construction, the heavy brick façade, with a range of complex features including projecting brick bays, deep brick fins, brick soffits and cantilevered masonry, had to be independently supported directly from the CLT structural frame.
Coupled with distinctive brickwork patterns and features which required the use of projecting, recessed and angled bricks in multiple bond patterns, as well as slender 3m high vertical brick pillars, this created discontinuous and concentrated loads that could not be accommodated using conventional masonry support systems.
Further challenges included the requirement for suspended ‘floating’ bricks soffits which needed to be supported discretely across the elevations, and the interface between the CLT structural frame and the masonry façade, which required careful detailing to minimise thermal bridging, maintain fire compartmentation, and accommodate differential movement, all while supporting the heavy brickwork loading.
The Solution
Working alongside MICA Architects and main contractor, Feltham Construction, Leviat’s Technical team developed a bespoke stainless steel support solution for the various brickwork elements based on Ancon MDC Bracket Angle Support, Ancon 25/14 Channel Systems, Nexus XI Brick-Faced Support and specially designed load-bearing T-section Windposts.
On the main facades, the heavy brick facia is supported using bespoke stainless steel Ancon MDC Bracket Angle, fixed directly back to the CLT structural frame at each floor level using high-performance SPAX timber screws, with Ancon 25/14 channel used to tie the masonry back through the insulation layer into the main structure for lateral restraint.
Across window heads and small openings, a soldier course of pre-drilled solid bricks is supported using a combination of Ancon dowelled hanging ties and stirrup and stitching rods, suspended from special 8mm deep Ancon stainless steel 36/8 channel welded to the underside of the main MDC support channel, creating the appearance of a ‘floating’ brick soffit.
In contrast to the clean lines of the main building, the day house is characterised by a regular pattern of imposing 140mm wide brick fins, which wrap around the double height building to echo the surrounding pine trunks. Up to 3 metres in height and formed using stack-bonded 65mm brick courses, the fins are supported using specially engineered load-bearing Ancon T-section Windposts, giving the appearance of full-storey-height vertical elements, rather than short projecting brick piers. As well as creating a unique visual, these fins project across the large full height windows, acting as a Brise Soleil to deflect high angled summer sun, and reduce the need for air-conditioning.
To complete the specification, lightweight Nexus stainless steel support units, lined off-site with Ibstock Himley Ebony Black brick slips from the main façade batch and bolted directly to prefixed MDC channel, are used at deep window reveals and suspended soffits to reduce weight and cut construction time, while helping to achieve the critical brick detailing and providing visual continuity across the complex brickwork façades.
Outcome
Leviat’s technical expertise and high-performance engineered support solutions played a key role in converting the architect’s extraordinary vision for this groundbreaking CLT-framed Woodland Quad into reality, helping to convert the highly articulated brickwork façade into a buildable solution.
This outstanding low carbon development, which has already achieved recognition in a number of educational and building industry Awards and has recently been voted winner of the 2026 RIBA South Award, is widely recognised as setting a new standard in sustainable student accommodation.