Location: The Entrance, NSW Developer/builder: Silky Constructions Architect: Migliorino & Associates Bricklayer: Jag Bricklaying Austral Bricks products: • Bowral Dry-Pressed Bricks - Bowral Capitol Red, Bowral Charolais Cream, Bowral Blue Paradise Pavers   NOVEMBER 2005

“We’ve been in medium-density construction ever since Dad started the company 25 years ago,” says Ray Finianos proudly. Ray is MD of Silky Constructions, a Sydney based developer/builder.

Silky ventured out of the city to build this twenty-two-apartment building on an elevated site at The Entrance, a popular Central Coast holiday and retirement destination. Unusually the site was purchased with complete plans and all approvals in place. The challenge of meeting the stringent design controls had deterred other developers but Finianos saw the opportunity to create a landmark.

The three-storey building (plus underground car park) is completely constructed in loadbearing cavity brickwork, with clay bricks in both leaves. The exterior has two ‘personalities’ with face bricks on display from one direction and render from the opposing. Almost all the walls are slightly curved, including the internal walls. The brickwork is also modulated by colour and corbelling. “That was the hard part,” recalls Ray Finianos. “We had a very good bricklayer who accepted the challenge.”

Finianos believes its unique appeal made this a successful development. “We find our market prefers full masonry walls. They are more structurally sound, you get more for your dollar in an apartment with full masonry walls.”

Since completing this project Silky Constructions has built several more full masonry apartment buildings including a seven-storey development “down the road.” Ray Finianos regularly receives submissions for alternative construction methods “but so far we have been very happy with full masonry. You can’t get better than bricks and mortar, mate!”