Ilkeston man's bricklaying firm appears on TV

A construction firm owned by a local man is to feature in a television programming highlighting the work of young bricklayers.

The group will become local celebrities in a six-part documentary for the BBC titled 'Brickies' starting on Thursday 14th April on BBC Three and set to be available on-demand.

The programme focuses on a team of young bricklayers working for Hodgkinson Builders, based at Pride Park, Derby and run by managing director and founder Ian Hodgkinson who comes from Ilkeston.

Viewers will be introduced to the building trade’s new TV stars, including Harry Moran who also comes from the town, along with colleagues from Nottingham, Langley Mill and Heanor plus another from Hereford in the West Midlands.

They will be applying their skills on real building sites across the Midlands under Ian's watchful eye.  Filming took place over more than three months last summer at new housing development sites in Stoke-on-Trent, Northampton, Nether Heage and Ripley, as well as cameras following the young brickies’ home lives.

Ian said: “Hodgkinson builders is nationally recognised as a leading light in the promotion of apprenticeship programmes and encouraging young people to take advantage of the incredible opportunities available to them in the construction industry.

“We jumped at the chance to get involved in this series, and it was an amazing experience for everyone involved. All the guys and girls who feature in the show are stars in their own right, and no doubt some of them will have some real appeal to TV viewers.

“It’s about showing the skills and talents of the exceptional young people in our industry, and how they all have the potential for a great career in a very safe environment.

“The mere opportunity for the public to see, for the first time, what it’s really like on a construction site, with all the health and safety measures involved, and how much youngsters benefit from such a great working environment, will hopefully do wonders for the future of our industry.

“During this series, we genuinely see the sense of achievement experienced by young people building their own dreams at the same time as literally building dreams for other people.”

Hodgkinson Builders, which launched in 1990, is no stranger to the limelight.  In 2016, Ian led a group of young brickies to Parliament, where they built a wall beneath Big Ben to encourage more young people to consider bricklaying as a career, and, last year, Ian released a 96-page white paper to highlight the current crisis in social housing and suggesting ways the Government could help turn the situation around.

Picture: (above) from left to right;