THE RED MASON Heritage expert calls for more holistic and broad-base masonry trades training Canadian Design and Construction Report staff writer One of the leading international experts on historical brick masonry, residing in England, has shared his insights with Canadians, taking them on a journey of education en- compassing the past and future, revealing both aspects of the heritage and opportunity in traditional craft skills. Gerard Lynch, who holds a PhD for his knowledge of the topic, also put on a mason's apron and prepared some mortar, made according to historic practice, before demon- strating “tuck pointing” utilizing specialized and bespoke- made tools adapted from traditional practices, and provided other classroom and workshop demonstrations during the two-day Ottawa program in April, co-ordinated by the local Construction Specifications Canada (CSC) chapter. Lynch has spent a lifetime studying and rediscovering long-lost masonry craft skills, vital technical knowledge for the growing demand in heritage renovation projects, no- tably the extensive multi-year Parliament Hill work. He has 4 – April-May 2015 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report become affectionately known by the historic name “The Red Mason” because of his mastery of the high-level art of working and carving special bricks for architectural en- richments and vast historical knowledge of red (brick) ma- sonry and, he jokes, also because his now-grey but formerly red (ginger) hair. Heritage craft skills remain reasonably rare, he said. “The work I've been doing over the past 25 to 30 years has advanced the situation within traditional brick masonry from almost zero to (the point where there are) a number of very good craftsmen and women able to do this class of brickwork,” he said. “It's been very much a journey of personal passion, devotion to my craft and re-discovery.” Lynch has combined his almost 45 years of on-the-job craft experience with in-depth, scholarly, academic re- search, notably pouring over historic documents and old guides to his craft. He quickly recognized gaps – for exam- ple, how historical documents explaining past masonry techniques often left out important details, which he needed to rediscover through his natural talent - that saw