Why Traditional Brick Facades Are Becoming Inefficient on Commercial Projects, and What's Replacing Them

The changing reality of commercial brick construction

Brick remains one of Australia's most desirable facade materials. Architects specify it for its texture, permanence, thermal properties, and compatibility with urban design outcomes. Clients continue to demand genuine brick finishes across commercial, education, residential, and mixed use developments.

But across modern commercial construction, traditional full depth brickwork is becoming increasingly inefficient from a structural, logistical, labour, and programme perspective.

While traditional masonry remains common across low rise construction, growing labour shortages, scaffold costs, structural loading requirements, and programme pressures are pushing the industry toward alternative delivery methods on projects of all scales.

The issue is not the brick itself: it is the traditional delivery methodology.

This is where mechanically fixed brick facade systems are changing the market.

The structural load problem

Traditional full depth brickwork weighs approximately 180 to 220kg/m². On a commercial project with thousands of square metres of facade, this creates substantial non structural load carried by the building frame.

That load directly impacts:

• beam and column sizing
• slab edge engineering
• secondary steel requirements
• foundation design
• overall structural costs

For many commercial buildings, the structural implications of supporting traditional masonry become a major engineering and cost consideration long before facade installation even begins.

This is one of the reasons many commercial projects move toward lightweight cladding systems while retaining traditional brick only at podium or feature areas.

Mechanically fixed brick facade systems such as Nexbrick™ operate at approximately 55kg/m², roughly 65 to 70% lighter than traditional masonry while still achieving genuine brick finishes.

Beyond dead load reduction, lightweight mechanically fixed brick facades simplify slab edge engineering, reduce secondary steel requirements, and integrate more efficiently with contemporary curtain wall and prefabricated construction methodologies.

On fast track commercial projects, reducing facade weight also reduces dependency on wet trade construction sequencing and improves overall programme certainty.

On Iglu Tower in Melbourne, approximately 3,300m² of Nexbrick™ facade was delivered where full depth masonry at that scale would have created significant structural and programme constraints within the project timeline.

The access and scaffold problem

Traditional bricklaying requires continuous access to the work face. On commercial developments, this typically requires extensive scaffold systems maintained for the duration of the masonry programme, often across several months.

This creates multiple commercial pressures:

• high scaffold erection and hire costs
• programme dependencies between trades
• delayed envelope closure
• increased site congestion
• exposure to labour and material delays directly affecting the critical path

As brickwork programmes extend, scaffold often becomes one of the largest temporary works costs associated with facade construction.

Mechanically fixed brick facade systems fundamentally change this delivery model.

Nexbrick™ is a mechanically fixed brick slip and rail facade system that can either be installed directly onto completed structures on site or integrated onto prefabricated wall panels prior to installation.

This allows genuine brick facades to be delivered through multiple construction methodologies depending on project requirements, including conventional installation and full prefabricated facade systems.

Where prefabricated wall methodologies are adopted, facade panels can be manufactured off site, shipped throughout Australia, and rapidly installed onto the structure using mechanically fixed installation methods.

Compared with traditional masonry programmes, this significantly reduces scaffold dependency, improves installation efficiency, and reduces programme pressure on live commercial sites.

The labour problem

Australia's construction industry is facing an ongoing shortage of skilled trades, with commercial bricklayers becoming increasingly difficult to source and retain on major projects.

The issue is not temporary. Fewer young workers are entering the trade, apprenticeship numbers remain low, and large scale commercial bricklaying requires years of experience to perform efficiently at commercial pace and quality.

As a result, many projects face genuine delivery risk when relying on large traditional masonry crews over extended construction periods.

This is one of the key reasons prefabricated brick facade systems and mechanically fixed brick facings are becoming increasingly adopted across commercial construction throughout Australia.

The demand for brick aesthetics on projects has not disappeared, but the labour model required to deliver traditional masonry at scale is becoming harder to sustain.

Mechanically fixed brick facade systems allow genuine brick finishes to be delivered with smaller installation crews, shorter site durations, and less reliance on large traditional masonry workforces.

Where prefabricated wall methodologies are adopted, much of the labour requirement can also be shifted from site into controlled manufacturing environments where production is less affected by weather, access restrictions, and multi trade coordination.

The result is a more predictable facade delivery process from both a workforce and programme perspective.

The weather problem

Traditional bricklaying is heavily dependent on weather conditions. Rain, high winds, and cold temperatures can significantly slow or stop masonry works altogether.

In Melbourne's variable climate, this creates real programme risk on commercial projects running through winter periods.

Lost masonry days often flow directly into:

• delayed envelope closure
• delayed waterproofing
• delayed internal trades
• delayed practical completion

Mechanically fixed facade systems substantially reduce this exposure.

Where prefabricated methodologies are utilised, facade elements can be manufactured under controlled factory conditions regardless of external weather. Installation on site becomes significantly faster and less weather dependent than traditional masonry programmes.

What this means for architects and developers

Brick on commercial buildings is not disappearing. In many cases, demand for genuine brick finishes is increasing.

What is changing is the delivery methodology.

Mechanically fixed brick facade systems, including prefabricated facade methodologies, are removing many of the structural, logistical, labour, and programme constraints traditionally associated with masonry construction across commercial projects.

Importantly, these systems are not limiting architectural design outcomes. In many cases, they expand them.

Mechanically fixed brick facade systems allow architects to achieve genuine brick aesthetics across complex facade geometries and modern construction conditions that are often difficult, expensive, or inefficient to deliver through traditional masonry methods alone.

This includes:

• curved walls
• soffits and exposed slab edges
• arches and feature detailing
• brick returns and deep reveals
• multiple bond patterns and orientations
• custom brick blending and colour variation
• integration with curtain wall systems
• complex angles and non standard geometries

Because the system is mechanically fixed rather than traditionally laid in full depth masonry, architects gain greater flexibility in how brick is incorporated across the building envelope while still maintaining the appearance and materiality of genuine brick construction.

For architects and developers seeking genuine brick aesthetics without many of the structural and programme limitations associated with traditional masonry delivery, mechanically fixed facade systems are becoming an increasingly practical alternative across commercial construction.

To discuss Nexbrick™ for your current project, contact Modular Masonry Group.