New Facility Transforms How Students See Bricklaying

JOURNAL: ISSUE 4 - 2015

Local 1 NS member Gerald Urquhart, right, shows a student how to butter brick.

James Adams of Local 1 NS, right, demonstrates various bricklaying skills.

After years of sharing information about the industrial-commercial-institutional (ICI) construction sector at career fairs and showcases across Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia Construction Sector Council has opened the Trades Exhibition Hall in 2014 – a new facility that is changing the way high school students not only view bricklaying, but experience it.

Instead of just reading a brochure or hearing a presentation about becoming a mason, participants speak one-on-one with apprentices and journeypersons about their trade and even lay a brick or two.

Local 1 NS has played a leading role in the success of the Trades Exhibition Hall. “Over 1,000 high school students have had the chance to learn about masonry work at the bricklayers’ booth, operated by Local 1 members,” says Local 1 President James Moore. “Since the Hall’s opening, many students have said that as a result of their visits, they have a new interest and appreciation for the art of bricklaying.”