A £5M sporting venue re-development is a racing certainty after support from a brick firm.

York Handmade Brick Company supplied more than 80,000 bricks to York Racecourse.

The materials were used in changes to the track's northern end, which included the rebuilding a wall designed by York architect Walter Brierley in 1910.

Work was also carried out on new saddling boxes and a veterinary area, as well as a improved pre-parade ring and horse washdown area.

Bosses say the changes have been finished ahead of this week's showpiece Dante Festival, featuring the Dante Stakes and Yorkshire Cup.

York Handmade, based in Alne, near Easingwold, North Yorkshire, will also supply materials for the second phase of track changes, which will include a new jockeys' weighing room.

Guy Armitage, York Handmade director, said he was delighted the firm had played a key role in a Yorkshire development, after previously supplying 70,000 bricks for London's 87-storey Shard building.

He said: “It was a challenge to replace a wall designed by such renowned York architect Walter Brierley, but we feel we have done ourselves justice.

“As a Yorkshire company, it was an honour to be asked to help and we were proud to play our part in the significant refurbishment of one of the very finest racecourses in the country.

“We take great satisfaction in working on projects in Yorkshire and delighted our bricks fit in so well.”

As well as working on the Shard, York Handmade, which employs more than 20 workers and was founded in 1988, previously carried out projects on Arsenal's former Highbury football stadium and Cheetham's School of Music, in Manchester, which is the UK's largest specialist music school.

William Derby, York Racecourse chief executive, added: “York Handmade have done a magnificent job and we are extremely grateful to them.

“Their bricks form a crucial part of the new-look northern end of the racecourse.

“The company has an excellent reputation as a heritage brick maker, which is exactly what we needed to rebuild Walter Brierley's wall.

“We needed to replace it with quality and York Handmade delivered exactly that.”