Princess Anne visited the National House Building Council's training hub.
HRH The Princess Royal tried her hand at bricklaying, laying a brick under the guidance of apprentices.
She also made a speech about house-building apprenticeships and the industry.
The NHBC Training Hub, next to Histon Football Club, can train up to 80 apprentices all year round to gain a Level 2 Apprenticeship in Bricklaying within as little as 14 months.
The facility's equipped with classrooms, welfare and catering facilities and provides apprentices with a realistic outdoor working environment and is initially focusing on bricklaying.
Darryl Stewart, responsible for NHBC's apprentice training programme and hubs said:
"We were honoured to welcome HRH The Princess Royal to the NHBC Training Hub in Cambridge.
Bricklaying is at the heart of house building and a hugely important skill. In recent years house builders have found it more challenging to recruit people for a range of reasons.
Historically, it’s an industry which has been perceived as being male-dominated, and currently, it’s also facing the challenge of an ageing workforce. This means we must find ways to encourage people from all walks of life to join the sector".
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