A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term brick denotes a unit primarily composed of clay, but is now also used informally to denote units made of other materials or other chemically cured construction blocks. Bricks can be joined using mortar, adhesives or by interlocking. Bricks are usually produced at brickworks in numerous classes, types, materials, and sizes which vary with region, and are produced in bulk quantities.
Masonry is the craft of building a structure with brick, stone, or similar material, including mortar plastering which are often laid in, bound and pasted together by mortar. The term masonry can also refer to the building units themselves.
Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. Stonemasonry is the craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with mortar and even the ancient lime mortar, to wall or cover formed structures.
A trowel is a small hand tool used for digging, applying, smoothing, or moving small amounts of viscous or particulate material. Common varieties include the masonry trowel, garden trowel, and float trowel.
This page is a list of construction topics.
Ashlar is a type of masonry that requires only a little mortar to bind it. The term can refer either to an individual stone that has been “finely dressed” until squared off, or to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, and is generally rectangular (cuboid). It was described by Vitruvius as opus isodomum or trapezoidal. Precisely cut "on all faces adjacent to those of other stones", ashlar is capable of requiring only very thin joints between blocks, and the visible face of the stone may be quarry-faced or feature a variety of treatments: tooled, smoothly polished or rendered with another material for decorative effect.
The Laborers' International Union of North America, often shortened to just the Laborers' Union, is an American and Canadian labor union formed in 1903. As of 2017, they had about 500,000 members, about 80,000 of whom are in Canada. The current general president is Brent Booker who was appointed general president in 2023. There are nine regions across North America; these regions are further divided into 500 local unions. One region is in Toronto, Canada, and is led by Joseph Mancinelli, Local 183, which is the largest construction local union in North America.
A brick hod is a three-sided box for carrying bricks or other building materials, often mortar. It bears a long handle and is carried over the shoulder. A hod is usually long enough to accept 4 bricks on their side. However, by arranging the bricks in a chevron fashion, the number of bricks that may be carried is only limited to the weight the labourer can bear and the unwieldiness of that load. Typically, ten to twelve bricks might be carried.
Tuckpointing is a way of using two contrasting colours of mortar in the mortar joints of brickwork, with one colour matching the bricks themselves to give an artificial impression that very fine joints have been made. In some parts of the United States and Canada, some confusion may result as the term is often used interchangeably with pointing and repointing.
Eastleigh College in Eastleigh, Hampshire is a further education college providing technical and professional training and apprenticeships to school leavers, in addition to part-time professional courses and part-time leisure courses for adults.
Skills for Life is a national lifelong learning strategy in England for improving adult skills, designed to help learners develop their reading, writing, maths, technical, and digital skills. It provides universal free education and training; including courses in digital, numeracy and transferable skills; traineeships; apprenticeships; and vocational qualifications for all adults in further education colleges and beyond.
WorldSkills is an international charity that organises world and national championships for vocational skills and is held every two years in different parts of the world, and also hosts conferences about vocational skills. WorldSkills describes itself as the global hub for skills.
In the UK education sector, there are a wide range of qualification types offered by the United Kingdom awarding bodies. Qualifications range in size and type, can be academic, vocational or skills-related, and are grouped together into different levels of difficulty. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, qualifications are divided into Higher Education qualifications, which are on the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ) and are awarded by bodies with degree awarding powers, and Regulated qualifications, which are on the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) and are accredited by Ofqual in England, the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment in Northern Ireland and Qualifications Wales in Wales. In Scotland, qualifications are divided into Higher Education qualifications, Scottish Qualifications Authority qualifications and Scottish Vocational Qualifications/Modern Apprenticeships, which are on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF). Scottish Higher Education Qualifications are on both the SCQF and the FHEQ.
In England, learning and skills refers typically to post-compulsory education and training, provided by further education and sixth form colleges, schools with sixth forms, local authority and adult education institutions, private and voluntary sector providers, offender learning, and workplace learning including Apprenticeships and other employer-facing initiatives. The learning and skills sector is vital to increasing productivity, economic competitiveness and sustainable employment in the UK
Steven Philip Rotheram is a British Labour politician who was elected Mayor of the Liverpool City Region in 2017.
The Department for Education (DfE) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for child protection, child services, education, apprenticeships, and wider skills in England.
FBR Ltd (ASX:FBR) is a Perth based robotics company. FBR is the creator of Hadrian X, the world's first fully automated end to end robotic bricklayer. In November 2016, Fastbrick Robotics won the Western Australian Innovator of the Year Award.
Operative Masonry or The Worshipful Society of Free Masons, Rough Masons, Wallers, Slaters, Paviors, Plaisterers and Bricklayers or simply The Operatives is a fraternal guild claiming a history of hundreds of years over which customs, traditions, knowledge and practices were developed and handed down. It is an invitation only, Masonic society dedicated to preserving the history, rituals, and traditions of medieval operative stonemasons guilds in England and Europe that were the precursors to modern speculative Freemasonry.
Apprenticeships have a long tradition in the United Kingdom, dating back to around the 12th century. They flourished in the 14th century and were expanded during the industrial revolution. In modern times, apprenticeships were formalised in 1964 by act of parliament and they continue to be in widespread use to this day.
