Bricklayers in Powys

Bricklaying across Powys

Powys is the largest county in Wales by area and the most sparsely populated. It stretches from the Dee valley in the north to the Brecon Beacons in the south. Building work here is spread across market towns, villages and farms rather than concentrated in one or two big centres, and that shapes how a bricklaying contractor has to work: travel matters, programmes have to account for distance, and a lot of jobs are one-off plots, small developments and agricultural or commercial buildings rather than large estates.

We're based in Welshpool, in the north-east of the county, and most of our Powys work is in the north and middle: Welshpool, Newtown, Montgomery, Llanfair Caereinion, Llanfyllin and the surrounding villages. We also take work further south and west, such as Llanidloes, Llandrindod Wells, Builth Wells, Machynlleth and Brecon, where the job and programme make the travel worthwhile.

Services we offer across Powys include new-build housing, commercial brickwork, industrial blockwork, retaining walls and general brickwork.

Welsh Building Regulations in Powys

Powys is in Wales, so building work here falls under the Building Regulations for Wales and the Welsh Government's Approved Documents. Building Regulations powers were devolved to Wales at the end of 2011, and the Welsh and English guidance has diverged since. Two differences show up most on housing sites. Wales has its own Part L (conservation of fuel and power), whose 2022 edition came into force on 23 November 2022. And new homes in Wales have needed automatic fire suppression (sprinklers) since 1 January 2016.

For brickwork, energy rules affect the wall build-up, cavity insulation and the detailing at openings and junctions. The designer is responsible for compliance, and we build to the drawings. We check which Approved Documents a scheme has been designed to, which is a useful safeguard for developers and contractors crossing the border from England for the first time.

Planning context

Powys County Council is the planning authority for most of the county. The Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park Authority handles planning inside the national park. The council's Replacement Local Development Plan (2022 to 2037) Preferred Strategy, published for consultation from August to October 2024, proposed focusing growth on the larger towns, including Welshpool, Newtown, Llandrindod Wells and Builth Wells. It is still being prepared, so check the council's current documents.

In parts of Powys, river water quality has also affected new housing. Since 2021, Natural Resources Wales guidance has required development in the catchments of phosphate-sensitive river Special Areas of Conservation, including the Wye and Usk, which cover much of south-east Powys, to show it won't add to phosphate levels. That has slowed some approvals there. It's a planning matter rather than a brickwork one, but it helps explain why development in some parts of the county moves in stops and starts.

Typical Powys work

Across the county we see estates of bungalows and two-storey houses on the edges of market towns, individual plots in villages, agricultural and commercial buildings, and extensions and repairs to older properties. Older buildings in Powys are often stone or early brick, where matching existing materials and bonding matters. That's covered by the repair unit in Kris's NVQ.

Getting materials to rural sites

Rural Powys sites can be at the end of narrow lanes, with limited room for lorries and nowhere obvious to store bricks and blocks. Before we start we check delivery access, where packs can be put down without blocking other trades, and how far materials have to travel to the working face. Sorting this out at the start saves days later.