Adhesive firm Gorilla Glue Europe is backing an initiative that will see brickwork academies rolled out across Britain.

The Gorilla Glue team travelled to London and visited the Houses of Parliament to show their support for Derby-based builder Ian Hodgkinson, founder of Hodgkinson Builders.

Mr Hodgkinson visited the capital following an invite from Housing Minister Brandon Lewis, after the Derby builder created a brickwork academy to tackle a major skills gap in the industry. With the need to build over 250,000 new homes each year over the next four years and with only 250,000 bricklayers in the UK, there is an immediate need for more fully trained bricklayers.

Mr Hodgkinson and his apprentices showed off their own skills to Nick Bowles, Apprentice Minister; Brandon Lewis, Housing Minister; and Amanda Holloway, MP for Derby North, by building a brick wall on Speakers Green before going for a drinks reception in the Jubilee room in Westminster.

Mr Lewis and Gorilla Glue both support the plans to roll out the academies.

Simon Damp, managing director of Gorilla Glue Europe, said: “We were more than happy to show our support for Ian and his brickwork academy plans.

“It has been identified that there is an obvious skills gap in the construction industry, Ian has acted upon that and there are big plans moving forward.

“It was an excellent day at the Houses of Parliament and Ian clearly has plenty of skilled apprentices at his academy.”

The academy, which is linked with national training provider 3AAA, will be renamed as the National Construction Academy and, within five years, it is hoped more than 40 academies will be available to all throughout the United Kingdom.