With Harlow & Gilston Garden Town contributing to the Government’s national target of 1.5m new homes, Harlow College are ensuring that the local area will be served by a new generation of bricklayers for decades to come.
Delivering a whole host of courses dedicated to construction trades, Harlow College recently held a bricklaying masterclass for their current students with YouTuber Charlie Collison and GSQ Brickwork’s Garry Staines.
Charlie is officially the fastest bricklayer in the country having won the UK’s Golden Trowel Championship for the last two years before jetting across the Atlantic to represent the UK at the Las Vegas Bricklayer 500 World Championship in January.
“We want to entice the youngsters to come and join the fun because it’s a great trade if you learn it properly,” commented Charlie who has over a million subscribers on YouTube.
“I originally got into bricklaying because I wanted to work outdoors and be with likeminded people and I absolutely love it.
“There’s so much work out there which is great news for these kids at Harlow College who are starting out in the industry.”
Garden Town partners, East Herts Council, issued planning permission for 10,000 homes across seven villages in Gilston earlier this year with further HGGT neighbourhoods proposed for East of Harlow, Latton Priory and Water Lane.
Garry Staines says that collaboration between colleges like Harlow and employers across the country will play a key role in training up the next wave of trades to work on projects like the Garden Town.
“The industry needs new bricklayers and labourers so there’s already a fantastic career opportunity for youngsters.
“I’ve been a bricklayer since I was 16 and I’ve never been out of work, we talk about skills for life but it’s a job for life.
“Apprentices are enrolling on college courses but we need employers to engage as well, to give these youngsters a chance.
“We’ve had students join us from Harlow College and they’re very productive and a great asset to our industry when out on site.”
With 23,000 homes coming forward as part of Harlow & Gilston Garden Town, Garry says that trades will benefit massively from new developments, locally and nationally.
“For every new home that we build it comes with at least one new job.
“If we can target two new jobs on these builds then that will be a huge boost for the country as a whole.”
2023 saw Garden Town partners, Harlow Council, team up with leading UK developer, Hill Group, to plan a programme of new homes as part of the ambitious regeneration of the local area.
And like Garry and Charlie, Hill Group’s MD, Tom Hill, believes it is a great time for young people to join the construction industry and learn a trade.
“The Government want to deliver 1.5m homes and we’re going to see some of those built locally so the skills and labour are needed here to make that happen.
“It’s a fantastic industry for youngsters to join, there’s so many different jobs in construction, lots of trades and it’s well-paid which is so important.
“We’re talking to Harlow College about how we can bring local labour into our projects with the Council so it’s a very exciting time.”
Find out more about Harlow College and their construction trade courses here.
