Delivering Detail at Scale at Lambton Park

Set within 1,000 acres of historic countryside in County Durham, Lionsfields at Lambton Park is an exclusive development of 57 luxury homes by Robertson Homes. Designed to complement the character and heritage of the wider estate, the scheme places considerable emphasis on architectural quality, with carefully considered brick detailing forming an important part of the finished elevations.

Delivering that level of detail consistently across multiple house types presented a particular challenge. Robertson Homes required a range of intricate brick features around windows and door openings, while maintaining a traditional appearance with no exposed structural steelwork visible within the completed façades.

With almost 400 lintels required across the development, the solution also needed to be practical to deliver at scale. Consistency, accuracy and coordination were critical, without introducing unnecessary complexity onto site.

Keystone Lintels was appointed to design and manufacture the specialist lintel package, supplying 393 Brick Feature Lintels across the 57 homes. Bespoke solutions were developed around the individual house types and architectural details, bringing structural support and the required brick finish together within prefabricated units.

Engineering the detail

Keystone Lintels worked closely with Robertson Homes’ design and site teams to develop each solution around the required geometry, brickwork and structural performance.

The Keyslip Brick Details range is designed specifically to simplify complex brickwork through precision off-site manufacture. Brick Feature Lintels combine a structural steel lintel with precision-cut brick slips, allowing arches, soffits and other bespoke masonry details to be delivered as engineered units while maintaining full structural performance.

At Lionsfields, this approach enabled the structural steelwork above openings to remain concealed while preserving the appearance of traditionally constructed brickwork.

Among the most distinctive features were herringbone patterned full arches and three-tier tapered creasing tile arches. These details required a high level of precision, particularly where the same architectural treatment needed to be reproduced consistently across multiple plots.

Rather than forming these complex features entirely on site, project-specific bricks were precision cut and incorporated into the lintel units within a controlled factory environment. This provided greater control over dimensional accuracy, alignment and finish before the products reached site. Keystone Lintels’ Keyslip system is manufactured using project-specific bricks and is designed to reduce extensive on-site cutting and reliance on specialist brickwork skills.

Taking complexity off site

The benefits of this approach extended beyond appearance.

Each Brick Feature Lintel combines precision-cut brick slips with Keystone Lintels’ patented perforated steel system and a high-performance BBA-approved adhesive. The perforated steel allows the adhesive to form a mechanical bond through the supporting steelwork, creating a secure connection between the structural unit and the brick slips.

Factory manufacture also provided Robertson Homes with a more repeatable method of delivering complex masonry details across the development. Moving cutting, bonding and assembly away from site reduced the amount of specialist work required during construction and helped minimise the influence of site conditions on the quality of the finished detail.

For a development of this scale, that repeatability was particularly important. The use of prefabricated units helped maintain consistency from plot to plot while reducing the need to recreate intricate masonry details individually on site.

The wider Keyslip approach is designed around these principles of improved buildability and on-site efficiency, with products manufactured to order and supplied ready for installation and final pointing. At Lionsfields, it meant that architectural individuality could be retained while transferring a significant element of the construction complexity into a controlled manufacturing environment.

The luxury homes at the Lionsfields development in Lambton Park required exceptional brick detailing and precision. Keystone’s technical team were always on hand, with its in-house engineer working closely with our design and site teams to develop bespoke lintel solutions that reflected our architectural vision.

Coordination from design to manufacture

The scale and variety of the package also required close technical coordination throughout the development.

Keystone Lintels’ Senior Technical Engineer, Priyang Patel, oversaw the lintel package, managing brick collection, coordinating factory production and holding regular progress meetings with Robertson Homes’ project and design teams.

Technical drawings were refined as the scheme progressed, ensuring each lintel responded to individual plot requirements while maintaining consistency across the development. Through detailed design and controlled off-site manufacture, Keystone Lintels helped Robertson Homes deliver complex architectural brickwork consistently at scale, while reducing specialist work on site.

Find out more about the Lambton Park project.