Add an extension or patch an old wall in Sussex and the brickwork rarely matches first time, the colour's off, the texture's wrong, or the mortar sticks out like a sore thumb. Here's how we actually go about matching new brick to an existing Sussex home, and why it's trickier here than in a lot of other places.
Sussex has an unusually mixed brick heritage. Brighton and Hove's Regency and Victorian terraces lean heavily on London stock brick, a warm yellow-grey that was shipped along the coast and up from the Thames estuary in the 1800s. Head inland to Lewes or the Weald and you'll find darker Sussex reds and locally fired stocks, often laid in Flemish bond on Georgian houses. Downland villages mix flint with brick dressings around windows and corners. None of these fire the same way twice, even bricks from the same original batch can vary across a single wall as the kiln heat changed.
That variation is actually good news in one sense: a slightly imperfect match often blends in better than a brick that's too uniform, because old Sussex brickwork was never perfectly uniform to begin with.
Colour is only the start. We're also matching the size (older handmade bricks are often a touch smaller and less regular than modern machine-made ones), the texture (wire-cut, smooth pressed, or a rougher stock finish), and the bond pattern, whether that's Flemish bond common on older Sussex houses or the stretcher bond used on most 20th-century extensions.
For small jobs, like filling in an old doorway or patching after a damp repair, we'll often lift bricks from a less visible part of the property (a chimney breast behind a shed, say) and use fresh bricks round the back where it won't be noticed. For bigger extensions we usually turn to reclamation yards; there are several around Lewes, Portslade and further into the Weald that specialise in salvaged London stock and Sussex reds, and they're worth the drive because a new brick, however close in colour, almost never has the right surface wear.
When a true reclaimed match isn't available, specialist brick manufacturers can blend a bespoke batch to sample, though this usually only makes sense on larger extensions given the minimum order quantities and lead times involved.
A lot of brick matching gets undone by the mortar. Pre-1920s Sussex houses were built with lime mortar, which is softer, more breathable and typically a paler, chalkier colour than the grey cement mortar used on most modern work. Repointing an old wall with a hard cement mix doesn't just look wrong, it can trap moisture and cause the brick faces to spall over time. We match mortar colour using local sand (sharp sand from the South Downs tends to give a buff tone, sharper and greyer mixes come from further afield) and we'll use a lime-based mix on any pre-war solid wall to keep it breathing properly.
Pointing style counts too: flush, bucket-handle and weathered joints all throw slightly different shadows, and getting that wrong is often what makes a technically close brick match still look obviously new.
Large parts of Brighton and Hove, plus Lewes, Hastings Old Town and many Downland villages, sit within conservation areas, and East Sussex has a good number of listed buildings too. Any brickwork change visible from the street in these areas may need planning consent, and on listed buildings you'll usually need listed building consent even for repointing, since the local authority can specify the brick type, bond and mortar mix. It's worth checking with Brighton & Hove City Council or East Sussex County Council's conservation team before ordering any brick, reclaimed or new, if your property falls in one of these zones.
It depends heavily on the brick, reclaimed London stock or Sussex reds typically run from around £600 to £1,000 per thousand depending on condition and supplier, while a bespoke blended batch for a larger extension can cost more once minimum order quantities are factored in. Labour for careful, matched brickwork also tends to cost more than standard build work because it's slower going.
Yes, but you'll almost always need listed building consent first, and the conservation officer may specify the exact brick, bond and mortar type to be used. We're happy to source samples and liaise with East Sussex or Brighton & Hove conservation teams as part of the job.
Not immediately, no. Even a very close match will look slightly fresher until weathering catches it up over a year or two; reclaimed brick closes that gap fastest, while new brick needs time (and sometimes a light aging treatment) to properly blend in.
Tell us what you are planning and we will come and take a look. Free, no-pressure quotes across Brighton and Sussex.