Since its formation in 2013, BREL Façades has continually developed as a business, in the process evolving from a small specialist sub-contractor into a principal contractor. This transformation has only been possible due to the strong emphasis that the company has placed on improvement. This approach has been further underlined by its nomination for a prestigious UK Façade Award following its work on the distinctive Brass Building in Cambridge, as Ray Kasi, Commercial Director, recently outlined to Construction Industry News magazine.
“The award recognition plays a valuable role in validating the hard work that goes into delivering complex façade and remediation projects,” explains Ray. “It’s very motivating for the entire team and is a reminder that what we do makes a real difference and has a positive impact on people’s lives.”
The nomination is particularly meaningful because of the challenges involved in delivering the Brass Building project. While relatively modest in scale compared with some of BREL’s larger schemes, the development demanded a high degree of technical expertise, detailed planning and problem-solving throughout the design and construction phases.
“It wasn’t an easy project by any means,” adds Ray. “It was a smaller building compared to some of the work we normally undertake, but it was much more challenging in many ways. The complexity of the scheme has made the award recognition all the more gratifying.
“The amount of time we were able to dedicate to site investigations in order to fully understand the existing building was key. This level of planning meant we had a full design before work commenced onsite. Having our own in-house design team has also helped considerably because we had the flexibility to bounce ideas around and make revisions very quickly. If we’d had to outsource our design, this would have been much more difficult.”
The success of the Brass Building project also reflects BREL’s journey and its transformation from a specialist subcontractor into a principal contractor. This has enabled it to firmly establish itself as a leading player in the cladding remediation sector, taking responsibility for entire projects and working directly with clients.
To further support the evolution of the business, BREL has been careful to constantly invest in its infrastructure. It has added to the technical expertise it already had to hand by strengthening its health and safety management, its quality assurance systems, project controls and contract administration. This has continual investment has ensured that consistency of delivery has remained high as its workload has increased.
“We’ve added new staff accordingly as we’ve developed, effectively assembling the machine while it was running and building new departments and capabilities without stopping operations. Over the years we’ve worked with some of the biggest operators in the marketplace, such as Skanska, Mace and Robert McAlpine. This experience has been invaluable in developing our own approach. We’ve also been proactive in developing our own supply chain and building loyalty. We now have a preferred list of suppliers that we fully trust. This has been crucial.”
Today, BREL’s prime focus is cladding remediation and building safety projects, acting as principal contractor and reporting directly to consultants, building owners, property management companies and asset managers. Rather than working for major contractors, it now sits directly alongside the client team.
BREL’s order book reached £32m for the 2025 calendar year, demonstrating the scale it has achieved since its beginnings as an EWI contractor. This has been achieved by maintaining its emphasis on quality, safety and resident engagement, while also broadening its horizons and expanding geographically into Wales and Scotland. This has proven to be a strong formula for growth and looks set to continue to be so in the months and years ahead. Its growing sphere of influence has become increasingly important with the uncertainty currently within the marketplace due to the effects of the wider geopolitical situation.
“It is a challenging market and factors such as rising material and labour costs affect everyone, while regulations can lead to delays in projects starting, especially for buildings taller than 18 metres. By focusing on buildings that are shorter than this, we’ve been able to develop a strong pipeline of work for the future.”
While in the short term BREL is looking forward to seeing if it wins the UK Façade Award at the awards night in November, in longer term the company is aiming to make the most of the robust infrastructure it has put in place by further building its momentum.
“We’re definitely a much more mature business than we were just two or three years ago, and we’ve now got more people across our various departments. This has given us the ability to move into new regions, such as Wales and Scotland.
“With the nature of works that we carry out, there’s three main priorities that we’ve set ourselves internally, namely quality assurance, health and safety, and resident liaison. These are the main areas where constantly looking to improve.”
With a growing client base and project portfolio, as well as a potential UK Façade Award in the offing, it is clear that BREL is on the right track. Further growth and more award recognition is surely on the cards.
Watch a drone flyover of the Brass Building below:
