4 days ago
Robot brickies that can work around clock to be trialled in Britain as 25,000 more workers needed to meet housing plans
ROBOT brickies that can work around the clock are to be trialled in Britain - amid a chronic shortage of construction workers.
This is despite unemployment being at a four-year high across the country.
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The machines, developed by Dutch firm Monumental, use a pair of mechanical arms that dispense mortar and lay bricks at a similar rate to human workers, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Per eight-hour shift, each robot would be able to lay around 500 bricks - though they can be programmed to work 24/7.
They can build straight line brick walls and some cornering, though they always need to be supervised by human eyes.
One person can oversee two robots at once, but they don't need to be a qualified bricklayer.
Britain is currently experiencing an unprecedented shortage of real brickies, with a report by report by the Home Builders Federation and the Construction Industry Training Board warning at least 25,000 more are needed to meet the Government's housing plans.
The same company's machines have already built facades for scores of houses as well as canal walls on housing estates.
London bricklaying contractor Galostar - which worked on the Olympic Stadium in Stratford and Sadler's Wells Theatre - is set to trial the technology.
It's understood the scheme will begin next month, with the focus on whether the robots can be deployed on scaffolding and meet British building standards.
Galostar boss Tony Chapman said: 'We don't think they [the machines] will ever completely replace brickies, but they can certainly help with the skills shortages we are dealing with.
'From our point of view it also helps because the robots don't need breaks, they don't take time off, and so if you have several of them you will know exactly what your output is going to be.'
Monumental co-founder Salar al Khafaji said: "Your labour pool will now be much bigger, and you can work multiple shifts."
He estimates the charge will be around £1 for every brick layed.
The robots open the potential for more elaborate brickwork not seen since the Victorian era in the UK due to how labour-intensive it is.
'Today, if you want to ask for a very nice, patterned facade with two brick colours, you'll get an outrageously expensive quote, because it's quite hard and it will slow the masons down,' Mr al Khafaji added.
UNEMPLOYMENT CRISIS
It comes after official figures show the numbers on company pay rolls fell by 25,000 in May on the back of 41,000 just last month.
But the unemployment rate edged up from 4.6 per cent to 4.7 per cent, according to figures from the Office of National Statistics.
Average earnings growth, not including bonuses, slowed to five per cent in the three months to May, its lowest level for almost three years.
Lord Matthew Elliott, of the Jobs Foundation, said Chancellor Rachel Reeves"must deliver a pro-growth, pro-jobs plan in the Autumn Budget'.
Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith said that unemployment 'is the only thing growing under Labour'.
There will now be mounting pressure on the Bank of England to cut interest rates early next month to help kick-start the sluggish economy.
Business are also braced for the new workers' rights package that is going through Parliament that will only add to firms' costs.
