Mansfield takes centre stage in new season of hit BBC fly-on-the-wall show 'Brickies'

The hit BBC Three show depicts the reality of life on building sites, as the team banter, fall out and build friendships, while all the time the clock is ticking and pressure from the ‘gaffer’ to keep on course is never far away.

The episodes were filmed in last year’s blazing August weather, as the brickies work to get foundation levels down and up-to-scratch on building firm Hodginkon’s 56-property development on Victoria Street.

In episode one, led by foreman Jack Smith, the brickies are back on the trowel, building affordable houses. Familiar faces and new starters muck-in together as the gangs go deep into the earth to lay the foundations and get this large-scale development off the ground.

New face Leah is welcomed into the fold and she hits the ground running – getting to grips with the large foundation blocks and joining in the site banter. When her apprentice review comes up, she reveals she’s even got one eye on Jack’s job.

Elsewhere, tensions flare as returning apprentice Lucas has his attitude called into question.

After learning the ropes last year, he should be well on his way to becoming a fully-fledged bricklayer. But a lack of labourers on site has left him doing other people’s work and his frustrations threaten to boil over.

Speaking to Jack ahead of the release of season two, he admits part of his job is to babysit some of the newer recruits and steer them on the right course to achieve their potential.

But he is also keen for the show to act as a recruitment front door for young people considering the trade as a future career and says that the building industry is crying out for apprentices to swell the ranks.

He said: “I became an apprentice at 16 and then became a foreman seven years ago. I went to school in Ilkeston and had good grades, so they were really trying to talk me out of going into bricklaying and that really frustrates me.

“We have a real shortage of skilled tradespeople and new people entering the profession, not just bricklayers but across the board. We do a lot of work in Mansfield and we need more people in construction. We get a lot of people applying for apprenticeships with us. I’d take them all on if I could but we took on a young lad from Mansfield recently and he’s doing really well.”

What is also a surprise is the number of women on site giving the lads a real run for their money – with two female brickies already on the team – Georgia and Leah – then two more labourers brought in to help them hit their deadline.

“Georgia and her dad are a really good gang of bricklayers,” says Jack. “She’s really little and dainty, but then you’ll see her picking up a 25kg block.”

And the crew are still busy in the Mansfield area, finishing off a 17-home development on Thoresby Street, before beginning a major extension at Millbrook Hospital, next to King’s Mill Hospital in Sutton.

The first two episodes will air as a double bill on Monday, March 20, on BBC Three from 9pm. The entire series drops on BBC iPlayer at 6am on the same day.

For information on careers with Hodgkinson, see hodgkinsonbuilders.com/learn