The Brick Blog

You’ll be forgiven for never having heard of CITB’s latest pilot scheme: The Homebuilding Employer Network. And that’s because it’s only recently been set up and key stakeholders rounded up to back the exciting new initiative. Essentially, the concept behind the 12-month scheme being trialled is for CITB to – in their words, not mine – “work with experts across the sector to deliver a new, pain-free way of finding the right courses and training centres for Homebuilding employers”; in the process releasing around £270,000 of funds to pay for it. Why Was The Homebuilding Employer Network Set Up? The idea [...]

You might be reading the title of this blog and find the concept of ‘remote bricklayer training courses’ a bit of a contradiction in terms. After all, bricklaying is a practical skill and vocation – a wet trade performed onsite and not over Microsoft Teams, Google Meet or Zoom. Upskilling and CPD However, as with anything in life, if you want to get better at something or refine your skills – ‘upskilling’, as it’s called – you should always look to expand your horizons professionally and gain new knowledge in the world of work, too. This quest for new knowledge in [...]

The aim of today’s Brick Blog article is to explain the phasing out of Grandfather rights for the renewal of CSCS cards for supervisors and site/project/contracts managers and to highlight that Construction Management NVQs are the solution for ensuring compliance. Back Story Grandfather rights, or “acquired rights” as they are also known, are granted when there is a change in legal requirement for a qualification in order to occupy a particular role. In other words, an old rule regarding suitability for a job role continues to apply in some circumstances even though there is a new rule that applies to all [...]

Gone are the days when a quick cavity barrier manufacturer CPD or toolbox talk at the start of the day constituted passive fire protection training. Nowadays, the path to compliance is much more rigorous, involving demonstrating practical competence via accredited training. Legislation Changes It took the Grenfell Tower disaster of 2017 and Dame Judith Hackett’s subsequent review of fire safety in construction for the industry to completely overhaul its approach to fire prevention. The enquiry scrutinised everything from the testing, certification and accreditation of passive fire protection products to minimum design requirements for specifications, as well as issues in the construction [...]

Mick Russell, MPA Mortar Manager, shares his #YourConstructionStory [Much like John Ryan's #YourConstructionStory,] I too started working for my Uncle during school holidays to earn a bit of cash. Uncle was a small jobbing builder in Nuneaton and covered most aspects of the building trade. Obviously, as an unskilled kid I was given the labouring jobs to do, however this didn't bother me as I was earning money and had a taste for it. When I left school at 15 I couldn’t wait to get out there on site. Unfortunately there was no position for me with my Uncle, but armed [...]

John Ryan, Brickwork Lecturer at Weston College, shares his #YourConstructionStory My story or introduction to construction (and especially bricklaying) came at an early age. At just the age of 12 or 13, I was already “helping” my uncle perform renovations to his farmhouse just on the outskirts of Cardiff, where he tasked me to labour for him on plumbing, carpentry, and brickwork. I plucked up the courage to ask “can I could do some of the blockwork?” as it struck me as something that I thought I'd like to have a go at (he probably had to alter it when I [...]

A Vision for Masonry Support Installations Future Richard Brealey, Managing Director of Vision Midlands As the demand for modern methods of construction is increasing, so is the need for qualified installers who are fit to work with these structural systems. Richard Brealey, Managing Director of Vision Midlands has flown the flag for masonry support installers for years. Here he tells The ABC Assessment Centre why masonry support training is crucial. Vision Midlands – professional installers of masonry support systems, masonry clad soffit units and GRC lightweight solutions – has been working with masonry support products since 2000. In the past, I [...]

ABC Assessment Centre Partner Puts Value on Improving Bricklaying Skills to Futureproof Against Poor Building Practice Aaron Sharp, Head of Sales and Specification at ARC Building Solutions Set up by the trade association for the UK brick industry, The ABC Assessment Centre is the first training provider to offer CITB-accredited training courses in relation to ancillary bricklaying processes such as brick-slip systems, fire barriers and windpost installation. The short-duration courses, primarily aimed at contractors and current employees, as well as being an invaluable upskilling tool for site operatives and the supply chain as a whole, are being rolled out to schools [...]

A Bricklayer's Journey Kevin Flahive, Director at Flahive Brickwork   There was a history of bricklaying in my family with my dad starting out as a brickie before setting up his company about 35 years ago with surveyor Eamonn Duggan. I started working with him on building sites during my summer holidays as a labourer and hod carrier and by my late teens, I left school and started working full-time on site. It was working alongside a bricklayer one day that we saw a quantity surveyor walking around a site and he said that’s what I should try and do. To [...]

The Best Thing About Being a Brickie? The Camaraderie By Ray Goddard, Freelance Assessor   I have many fond memories of being a bricklayer. After a hard day’s graft, there is no better feeling than taking a moment to look up for a while at what you’ve built. Whilst there were some tough days as there are with any job, overall, I spent some of the best years of my life as a brickie and made friends who I still consider to be close with until this day.    I took the usual route into the industry. I started out as [...]

The Association of Brickwork Contractors’ (ABC) Assessment Centre has launched an innovative training programme aimed at upskilling candidates in a range of modern masonry techniques. Primarily designed to further professionals’ abilities in evolving on-site processes, the programme has been rolled out to Further Education establishments, allowing students to gain hands-on bricklaying experience within their own learning environment. Tony Higson, Commercial Director at ACS Stainless Steel Fixings, has been a supporter of the ABC Assessment Centre since it was founded in 2018. Here he explains his company’s partnership with the Centre and its drive to train and inspire the next generation of [...]