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Hod Save Our Brickies As Brickwork Boss Takes To Westminster

A Derby brickwork boss has been invited to Westminster to showcase his apprentices to the Housing Minister MP’s, and the UK’s leading house-builders on the future of Britain’s construction industry.

The Building Britain’s Future event will showcase bricklaying skills by apprentices building a wall in front of Big Ben, on Speakers Green within the Parliamentary estate on May 3rd. This will be the first time an event of this type will have taken place in Parliament.

The culmination of this event will be a reception in Westminster that will be addressed by both Amanda Solloway MP and Ian Hodgkinson but will also include speeches from Housing Minister, Brandon Lewis MP and the Minister for Apprenticeships, Nick Boles MP.

Ian, who founded his successful bricklaying business in 1990, set up his own brickwork academy last year, and is going to expand on the what he has already started with a National Construction Academy (NCA). This will be is a stand-alone academy that will be rolled out across Britain to help build the 250000 houses this country badly needs.

It will be unique in that way it will be set up, it will include intensive training and be influenced by one of the industry’s leading brickwork specialists. It’s goes to show what can be done working closely with employers and the academy to train up our country’s school leavers and get them building. Ian Hodgkinson has worked on many TV shows and recently helped Nick Knowles and BBC’s DIYSOS build a whole street with his Academy Students.

Ian said “It’s the perception of a bricklayer’s career that needs changing, construction has great prospects, safe working conditions, great earning potential, I have made a big bold promise to youngsters who join my academy that they could be earning £1,000 a week within five years if they work at it. We just need to show youngsters that there is an alternative to university and building is excellent career to have with so many possibilities.

“Ian added: “I am absolutely delighted to have been invited to Westminster and would like to thank Amanda Solloway MP for having the vision to help get my message out that bricklaying is the career of choice and with the my New National Construction Academy and opportunities such as this, we are absolutely confident that we can show young people how rewarding a career in bricklaying can be.”

Recent figures released from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) highlighted that the current skills shortage within bricklaying and quantity surveying was at its shortest supply level since 1998.

Amanda Solloway MP for Derby North said “This is such a fantastic opportunity to promote bricklaying as a genuine and credible choice for young people to undertake as a career. There certainly needs to be more effort in encouraging the uptake of bricklaying from apprenticeship level and that begins with altering and improving the perception of the industry.

“Bricklaying can be an incredibly rewarding career both from a job satisfaction and financial perspective and can lead to all manner of possibilities for career progression. We have to show that vocational careers have equal weighting to those that are more academic. Ian certainly has the enthusiasm and experience to champion this campaign and I will certainly do all I can to help”.

For more information, please visit www.bricklayers.com

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Poppy-PR .