Princess Royal meets apprentice bricklayers at new training hub
THE Princess Royal used a trowel to cut a houseouseshaped cake on a visit to officially open the he National House e Building Council’s s (NHBC) new bricklaying training hub.
Anne, 73, wore a white hard hat and d yellow hi-vis jacket as she spoke to young ng apprentices at the facilacility near Cambridge.
The NHBC, which provides warranty and insurance rance for new homes, set up the hub ub as part of efforts to address the skills shortage in the housebuilding sector.
Anne arrived by helicopter and was shown around the outdoor learning space, which had a series of partially built brick structures on a slab where apprentices were honing their craft.
After she spoke to scores of apprentices, she unveiled a plaque and was then asked to cut the roof of an ornately constructed house-shaped cake.
“Now I normally describe cutting special cakes as legalised vandalism,” she said. “This is particularly true in this case and can only be done on the understanding you will eat it, preferably today.”
Steve Wood, chief executive officer of the NHBC, replied: “We will.”
Anne asked what the cake was made of and someone in the audience q quipped: pp “Bricks!”
Before leaving, leavin she was presented with a commemorative brick, brick a trowel and a bunch of flowers.
App Apprentice bricklayer Toby Egan said: “She was really outgoin going and asked reall really interesting ques questions as well. “Sh “She was really switch switched on with her knowl knowledge as well, which su surprised me. “She was wa explaining to us about dam damp-proof course, which is something somethin that caught me really off guard guard. She seemed really interested in everything we had to say and everything we were showing her.” The 23-year-old, of Haverhill, Suffolk, said they also spoke about his background as a former goalkeeper for Ipswich Town Football Club in the reserve team.
“That didn’t work out, I didn’t make the cut, then I found myself in construction,” he said. “It’s brilliant, I’m loving it at the moment, it’s a career I can see myself progressing in.”
Fellow apprentice bricklayer Tegan Pryor said Anne “knew about the damp proof course so she’s very intelligent – she definitely knows her stuff”.
The 22-year-old, of Shefford, Bedfordshire, said she hoped more women get into construction, adding: “It’s not all the stereotypes that people say it is, it’s really nice, it’s lovely ely here and good fun.”
Apprentice bricklayer Corey Ratcliff, 18, of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, said: “I think she was pretty interested in everything to be honest, I think she enjoyed it.
“She liked to talk to everyone as well and it looked like she enjoyed the conversation she had.”
A typical day for an apprentice at the hub is six hours of practical training on a large outdoor concrete slab – underneath a canopy roof – where they build substantial structures, typical of a house building construction site.
They spend their first five weeks being taught by a dedicated bricklaying tutor who equips them with the skills needed to build highquality new homes.
Apprentices then learn core practical skills as well as health and safety practices.
The centre, part of a growing national nat network of training facilities by the NHBC, can train cohorts of 80 people to gain a Level 2 Apprenticeship in bricklaying in as little as 14 months.
The NHBC said there are only 42,000 bricklayers in housebuilding in the UK, with a further 33,000 needed to hit the Government’s target of building 300,000 new homes every year.
It said the average salary of a bricklayer is £50,000 per year.