By Lucy Jones BBC News Online

Jonathan Hill hopes to get work at Terminal 5

He is not a stock broker, brain surgeon or lawyer.

But he is learning a skill which is just as lucrative in today's market - bricklaying.

Qualified construction workers are in huge demand in Britain.

In the south-east, where the building of Terminal 5 at Heathrow airport is attracting builders from across the world, they are almost impossible to find for a reasonable price.

As with computer programmers amid the millennium bug worries in the run up to 31 December 2000, the most highly-skilled builders are demanding bumper salaries.

"With the building of Terminal 5, the prospects are really good," Mr Hill admits.

"I've always had an interest in the construction industry. My dad earns a fair bit from it."

Job creation

Terminal 5 - to cost $6bn - is one of the biggest construction projects in Europe.

It will boast 110 aircraft stands, 40,000 car parking spaces, 18 conveyor belts, the tallest control tower in the country and hundreds of shops by the time it is completed in 2011.

Construction at the terminal is well underway

New roads and rail links will serve the terminal which is set to house British Airways' entire Heathrow operation.

In the process, more than 50,000 people will have been provided with well-paid jobs for the best part of a decade.

But at present there is an expertise shortage.

This has led BAA, the company that operates Heathrow, to join the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) - a government body - to set up the Heathrow Construction Centre to train young people carpentry, joinery and bricklaying.

Onsite training

The centre, which officially opens on Thursday has would-be recruits knocking on the doors: more than 250 people applied for 50 places last year

There are now 80 16-to-18-year-olds training at the centre, which plans to expand.

The apprentices like being outside the classroom

"Young people see there is good money, if they've got the right skills," says David Boyer from the LSC.

"Many 16-year-olds look around and don't see anything they want to do and so are falling out of education.

"The key is finding something that young people want to do but that employees will pay for."

Construction fits the bill perfectly, he says.

Although students do have to attend lectures, most of their learning takes place in a workshop.

"It's not like being in school... there's a level of maturity," says Mr Hill.

Caravan sites

The Terminal 5 project has its critics.

Local people fear extra noise and pollution from the aeroplanes flying overhead, although the jobs the project is generating locally is widely seen as a pay-off.

Workers from far away live in caravans

But news of the riches to be made at Terminal 5 is spreading quickly.

Caravan sites housing the builders who have come from as far away as Russia and Finland have sprung up near the terminal site.

The conditions are basic and cold in winter: the toilets and showers are located in cabins outside.

But the Mercedes and BMW cars parked outside the caravans are evidence of why people are coming.

"It's definitely worth it - even unskilled workers are getting between �700 and �1,000 a week," said one resident of the Wiggin's site who left behind her house and children in Essex to join her husband, a builder on Terminal 5.

I've talked to a lot of the kids here... they all have a game plan. They want to set up their own businesses with the money they earn from working on Terminal 5 Mick Temple, Heathrow Airport

"The aeroplanes interfere with the television and a few people have had their caravans nicked but I'm happy."

The airport authorities are taking steps ensure Terminal 5 employs locals.

Many students at the Heathrow Construction Centre live nearby.

"Clearly the more Terminal 5 benefits the local community, the better," says Mick Temple, managing director of Heathrow Airport.

"They don't want to see that there are benefits but they are going to someone else."

There is hope the project could benefit the area for many years to come.

"I've talked to a lot of the kids here... they all have a game plan. They want to set up their own businesses with the money they earn from working on Terminal 5."