Award Description

Project Participants

• Owner - Long & Foster Real Estate, Fairfax, VA
• Architect - Beery Rio Associates, Burke, VA
• General Contractor - James G Davis Construction, Rockville, MD
• Masonry Contractor - Falls Church Construction, Fairfax, VA
• Masonry Supplier - Potomac Valley Brick & Supply Co, Rockville, MD
• Brick Manufacturer - Redland Cushwa, Williamsport, MD
• Brick Manufacturer - Redland Rocky Ridge, Rocky Ridge, MD
• Ceramic Glazing - Redland Brick, Columbus, OH

With design goals of achieving an old Georgian-style building for the new Long & Fosters headquarters that was expected have over 1,500,000 brick, Falls Church Construction’s masonry team was faced with an exciting challenge, which proved to be an absolutely breathtaking finale.

The building on this project was designed using Williamsburg size handmade brick laid in Flemish bond with an accent of oversize machine molded brick laid in half running bond. Due to the cost of Flemish bond installation and the individual bricklayers had little to no experience with construction of this specific design. With general awareness on the jobsite of the high level of difficulty to lay Flemish bond properly, specifically by ensuring all perpendicular mortar joints are vertically aligned, the mason’s talents were put to the test.

The general contractor pushed the job aggressively in order to turn the building over to the owner in a timely manner. This put the masonry contractor in the position of training the bricklayers while they were meeting production deadlines.

The masonry contractor utilized several crews, each with experienced supervisor, and several talented bricklayers to help with layout and production.

The project featured glazed headers, spaced randomly, throughout the masonry. The masonry contractor was entrusted to make the blend appear random, without looking unplanned. The accompanying images reveal the successful execution.

Finally, the masonry contractor was actively involved with the brick distributor in the selection of the special shapes, their subsequent installation, and in the landscaping portion of the project.

The masonry team truly appreciated the degree of difficulty required to execute a project of this magnitude; and without hesitation, they accepted the challenge which resulted in an absolutely stunning masterpiece.