Bricklaying course helping to plug skills gap

Students at SGS College in Stroud start with the bricklaying basics in Level 1 before moving up to Level 2

A college in Gloucestershire says more people are enrolling to learn a trade in the face of a national bricklaying shortage.

The National Housebuilding Council said there were an estimated 42,000 bricklayers at present, but some 33,000 more would be needed to meet the Government's house building target of delivering 300,000 new homes per year.

At South Gloucestershire and Stroud College (SGS College) in Stroud, the learning area manager for construction, David Quinton, said employers needed more funding to encourage them to take on young apprentices.

"We're seeing more and more people wanting to get into bricklaying and other trades as well," Mr Quinton said. "University isn't necessarily the way forward for all people", he added.

He and his colleagues teach Level 1 students, who have "never laid a brick before in their lives" the basics of the trade before going onto "more complicated stuff".

The skills the students learn during their time at Level 2 prepares them for apprenticeships.

"It's not just about learning how to lay bricks, we also look after their pastoral needs and make sure they're upscaling their maths and English as well," Mr Quinton said.

"People think this is like putting Lego bricks together, but I'm afraid to say it's a lot more difficult than that."

Mr Quinton hopes more funding will be invested in further education to support trade courses

The National Housebuilders Federation calculates that 2,500 bricklayers can build 10,000 homes, so 75,000 would be needed to hit the Government's target of 300,000 new homes per year.

The Government has said it is investing £2.7bn by next year in apprenticeship schemes, and was on track to build a million new homes by the end of this Parliament.

Mr Quinton said more funding for further education would help plug the skills gap, as "university isn't necessarily the way forward for all people".

Meanwhile, tutor Charlie completed a Level 2 bricklaying apprenticeship at SGS about 15 years ago and has come back to teach essential skills to the next generation of bricklayers.

"In the industry, I was in demand a lot, there was a noticeable shortage of us," Charlie said.

"I think part of being here as a trainer in bricklaying, is to try and get more young people to be a part of it.

"There's a mindset that apprenticeships are the only route through into bricklaying, what we're trying to do here is let people know that there is an alternative route through our full-time courses."

Bricklaying student Tom came to SGS as he thought it would be "a really good experience".

"It's worked out quite well so far," he said.

"People may not know how hard it is to actually get it right and how much practice it takes to get anywhere near good at it."

According to the National House Building Council (NHBC), there are still 33,000 more bricklayers needed in the house building sector to meet Government targets.

"We do need to increase training demand considerably in this academic year," Darryl Stewart from the NHBC said.

"There's only been around 1,600 bricklaying starts across the whole of England."

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