THE award-winning York Handmade Brick Company has provided 30,000 bricks for the new Central Library and Archive in Halifax in a contract worth £54,000.

About 30,000 specially-manufactured bricks will make up the walls of the new building.

Every single brick has been drawn by hand in the plans and sample walls have been built to make sure the bricks are exactly the right style, shape and colour to blend with the Grade I-Listed Piece Hall and the town’s many historical buildings.

Calderdale Council and LDN Architects selected bricks by the York Handmade of Alne, near Easingwold, to ensure an attractive, high-quality façade.

David Armitage, the chairman of York Handmade, said: “My family has been making bricks in Yorkshire for more than a century, so the new Central Library and Archive means a great deal to us. We are very proud to be involved and this contract continues a special tradition.”

Sample walls, constructed by GRAHAM Construction on the new library site, have allowed the Council and LDN Architects to test the bricks and mortar, including how the colour changes when wet.

The chosen bricks all have an individual character, as some of York Handmade’s manufacturing process is manual.

The mix of lighter and darker colours is unique to this project to ensure the new Central Library and Archive complements the sandstone that makes up most of the Piece Hall. The long shape of the bricks is similar to the ones used in many of Halifax’s traditional buildings.