I ditched law and order for bricks and mortar and I’ve never been happier, former copper says
SHE may look different to your average teenage apprentice, but ex-cop Jennifer Kehoe loves her new career as a brickie.
And she is encouraging others to join her trade.
After nearly a decade with Sussex Police, 40-year-old Jennifer longed for a change.
She said: “I wanted some regular hours. I realised I wanted to do something completely different.
“I have female friends who are plasterers and decorators and they love their jobs. I thought it would be amazing to be the person who actually builds the houses.
“So I did a lot of research because at first I didn’t think you could be an apprentice at my age. When I realised I could, I signed up for a Level 2 bricklaying apprenticeship in October.
“I am not your average apprentice bricklayer, but this is a job I absolutely love.
“The other day I was laying bricks when I saw someone moving into their new house. I thought, ‘I built part of your garage, I helped to finish your home’. I was proud.”
Jennifer, from Hove, East Sussex, is backing The Sun on Sunday’s Builder Better Britain campaign to highlight this vital and well-paid career.
There are only 70,000 skilled bricklayers in Britain today despite a plan by Rishi Sunak to build 300,000 new homes a year.
It means that some can earn £2,500 a week.
The industry is looking for another 50,000 to make any sort of impact in trying to deliver houses.
The lack of apprentices has led the Government to add brickies, carpenters, plasterers, tilers and roofers to the shortage occupation list.
This means migration rules have been relaxed for those with these skills.
Latest research from The National House Building Council reports that an additional 225,000 construction workers will be needed by 2027.
Only three per cent of construction site workers are women, according to the Home Builders Federation.
In the police force, one in three officers is female.
Jennifer said: “I am doing the NHBC’s bricklaying programme and out of 100 trainees there are only two women. I am working on construction sites for Redrow and I haven’t met another female brickie.
“It doesn’t bother me but it is a shame more women don’t go into it. It is a perfect job for women. You are outdoors, self-employed, working with your hands and keeping fit. I am carrying around 22kg concrete blocks. You don’t need the gym after that.
“I love the attention to detail and the satisfaction of a job done well. You have to concentrate, you can’t go off by a couple of milli-metres or the house is completely wrong.
“There’s a lot of technical stuff to learn. You’ve got to be fairly good at maths. You’re dealing with the insulation. You’re building around the windows. And although I might be older than your average apprentice I think I can keep doing this for another 30 years.
“There are blokes on the building site who are nearly that age. It is a job for life.”
It usually takes two and a half years to train as a bricklayer but Jennifer will qualify in 18 months as part of a fast-track course which alternates between the NHBC’s training hub in Tamworth, Staffs, and the Redrow construction site.
Make it easier
We launched our Builder Better Britain campaign last month to urge young people to take up skilled work in construction.
Skills Minister Robert Halfon says £2.7billion is available to encourage firms to offer apprenticeships.
But firms say the Government should simplify apprenticeship levies to make it easier for them to recruit.
Bricklayer boss Ian Hodgkinson, 59, said: “I am proud to say that about a quarter of my team, both men and women, started as apprentices with me.
“But we pay the price for having apprentices. We need to make it much easier for youngsters to get apprenticeships and for us to take them on.”
