Every few months we’re told another machine is going to replace the bricklayer. I’ve spent more than 40 years in construction and I’m still waiting ‼️
There was a report in THE TIMES last week !
This is my response to that article … by Ian Hodgkinson
Here we go again.
Britain hasn’t got enough bricklayers, we haven’t got enough homes and apparently the answer has arrived on four wheels with a computer attached to it.
The latest machines come from Dutch robotics company Monumental. A gang of 3 ‼️a 2 plus 1 gang we are used to ‼️
The three robots are called Petra, Panama and Pisa.
They each have a different job:
- Pisa — the actual bricklaying robot. It picks up and positions the bricks
- Petra — the brick supply robot, feeding bricks into the operation.
Panama — the mortar
robot, supplying the mortar.
The 3 P’s I have another name for them 😱
Their robots can reportedly lay up to 1,000 bricks a day, they’ve already been used on more than 100 homes and the company is preparing to bring the technology to Britain. Its ambition is huge: it believes the technology could provide capacity for another 20,000 UK homes within two years. (The Times)
It makes a fantastic headline.
But can we please hold on a minute?
I’ve been in construction for more than 40 years. I started as a bricklayer, I’ve employed bricklayers, trained apprentices and built houses.
And I’ve heard versions of this story for years.
“The bricklayer is finished.”
We’ve had prefabrication, modular housing, timber frame, large-scale bricklaying machines, 3D-printed houses and now AI-driven robots. And yet, when I drive past a housing site tomorrow morning, I suspect I’ll still see a bricklayer standing on a scaffold with a trowel in his hand.
A BUILDING SITE ISN’T A FACTORY
Don’t misunderstand me. I love innovation.
If somebody develops a machine that makes construction safer, quicker and more productive, brilliant. Bring it on.
But I become sceptical when we’re told it is going to solve Britain’s housing shortage.
Because laying bricks isn’t simply picking up a brick, putting mortar underneath it and placing it in a straight line. Any decent bricklayer knows it’s a constant judgement of setting out, corners, openings, lintels, DPCs, cavity trays, insulation, wall ties, movement joints, brick variations, damaged or wet materials, cuts, detailing, scaffold lifts — all while dealing with the British weather and the reality that nothing on site ever quite matches the drawing.
One interesting admission in the report is that rain, wind and scaffold movement can already disrupt robotic precision, meaning human intervention is still required when things go wrong. (The Times)
Having said that, real bricklayers don’t like rain either — they’re soon on their way home!
Welcome to a British building site.
Wait until it’s November, the wind is blowing sideways, materials have been moved, and the opening you’re building no longer quite matches the drawing.
That’s bricklaying.
FOUR WEEKS TO BECOME AN OPERATOR?
Here’s the part that bothers me most.
The company says people can be trained to operate these machines in around four weeks, without completing a traditional bricklaying apprenticeship. (The Times)
Four weeks?
You might learn to operate the robot in four weeks.
You haven’t learnt how to build a house.
And there’s an important difference.
A good bricklayer doesn’t just know how to lay a brick. He knows when something isn’t right, spots issues developing in a wall, notices when levels are drifting, questions awkward openings, identifies insulation problems, and looks at drawings thinking: hang on, how’s that supposed to work? That judgement comes from years of training, experience and thousands of hours on site not from a short course or a control panel.
We shouldn’t underestimate that just because a machine can move faster.
WE’RE TRYING TO FIX THE WRONG PROBLEM
And here’s what really frustrates me.
There genuinely is a shortage. Bricklaying is still listed as a recognised shortage occupation, and there are government-backed efforts to increase apprenticeship numbers in the trade. (GOV.UK)
So why are we forever looking for a way of building houses without bricklayers instead of asking why we aren’t producing enough bricklayers?
That’s the conversation I’d rather have.
Where are the apprenticeships?
Where are the employers willing to take youngsters on?
Why do so many people complete training but struggle to get the site experience that actually turns them into tradespeople?
We don’t have a shortage of interest ! we have a gap between college and site, and a robot doesn’t fix that.
BUT HERE’S WHERE I MIGHT BE WRONG…
Because I’m not daft enough to dismiss this technology either.
Today’s robot isn’t the one I’m interested in.
The robot we’ll see in ten years is.
Look at what has happened with technology in every other industry. These machines will get quicker, smaller and smarter, with better AI and machine vision, eventually handling far more complex site conditions than they can today.
So could robots eventually replace some of the work bricklayers currently do?
Yes. I think they probably will.
Could one skilled bricklayer eventually supervise several machines and produce the output that once required four or five people?
Quite possibly.
And if that happens, the trade changes.
But that’s very different from saying:
“We don’t need bricklayers any more.”
In fact, I think the opposite could happen. The people who truly understand brickwork may become even more valuable — not just as labour, but as supervisors of technology, quality controllers, and problem-solvers when machines fall short.
That’s the future I’d rather see.
DON’T REPLACE THE BRICKLAYER GIVE HIM THE ROBOT
So don’t give the robot to somebody after four weeks and call it progress.
Give it to a bricklayer.
Let someone who understands the trade operate it. Let the machine take some of the physical strain, improve productivity, and allow one experienced tradesperson to potentially oversee several units at once.
Now you’ve got my attention.
Because technology should support craftsmanship, not pretend craftsmanship isn’t needed.
Britain absolutely needs to build more homes. Robotics may eventually play a role. But the housing crisis isn’t simply caused by a lack of speed on the trowel. Planning, land, infrastructure, finance and wider workforce issues all play a part, and even government acknowledges it requires a “whole system approach”. (UK Parliament)
So I’m not throwing my trowel in the skip just yet.
Maybe in 10 or 20 years I’ll be proved completely wrong.
Maybe we’ll see housing sites run by robots with humans supervising from tablets.
But I wouldn’t bet the Government’s housing targets on it.
And I certainly wouldn’t tell the next generation not to become bricklayers because a robot is coming for their jobs.
I’d tell them the opposite:
Learn the trade. Learn the technology. Become bloody good at both.
Because the robot bricklayer may well be coming.
But I reckon it’s going to need a bricklayer standing next to it for quite a while yet.
#ConstructionTechnology #Robotics #AI #BuiltEnvironment
