£100m construction skills centre planned for London

Jobs and apprenticeships in the construction industry are set to be given a boost by a new skills college planned for London.

The £100 million Nine Elms Skills Centre will be home to the Construction Skills Academy, where the future talent of the building sector will be able to learn their trade.

In partnership with Lambeth College, employers will play a crucial role in designing the curriculum of the academy to ensure industry has the skills it needs both now and in the future.

Carillion, one of the UK's largest construction firms, has already thrown its backing behind the project.

The firm will promote the centre to businesses in its supply chain, as well as both large and small employers throughout the construction industry.

Initial estimates suggest that as many as 3,000 apprenticeships and 1,400 jobs could be created on the back of the skills academy in its first five years.

As part of their courses, learners will be introduced to a real-work environment through schemes like placements.

They will be able to hone their skills to the highest possible levels in a whole range of construction areas.

Students will then have the opportunity to develop their abilities as part of apprenticeships or in employment.

It is hoped the academy will become a world-class centre for science, technology, engineering and maths, known as the STEM subjects.

English and maths will also form part of the vocational learning to ensure alumni have strong communication and numeracy skills.

It comes after research from CITB found that some 232,000 jobs are set to be created in construction over the next five years.

Employment in the sector will be spurred on by strong growth, with London in particular set to perform strongly.

Chris James, enterprise manager of Carillion, said that the construction industry faces a huge skills crisis, despite the fact that the sector is one of the main drivers of the UK economy.

He continued: “This exciting new partnership between Lambeth College and Carillion will establish a construction training academy as part of a pan-London solution and be key to addressing the skills shortage in London and the South East.”