London Thames Gateway: Building the Olympics ? Local Skills for Local People

[Fiona]

In Training for the Olympics

ConstructionSkills has set up a dedicated team ? Constructing London 2012 ? to help ensure that the construction programme to build world-leading facilities and infrastructure for the Olympic Games is delivered safely, on time, on budget and leaves a lasting legacy for London.

The team?s main focus is to recruit and train local people in East London. Providing them with the skills that will get them into work and ensuring that the contractors building the projects have the skilled workforce they need.

We will also be working with other Sector Skills Councils responsible for the Built Environment - Summit Skills, Asset Skills and Energy & Utility Skills ? to ensure a coordinated and consistent approach.

A Golden Opportunity

The East of London will soon become a beacon of regeneration and the Olympic Games, coupled with the Thames Gateway project, will revitalise this area of our capital like never before. The legacy in the built environment and the new resources open to local people will change lives in this part of London.

But that is not enough - what really changes lives is jobs, skills, training and self reliance, a community ready and able to manage its own environment, having been there at the beginning, building it the way they want it built. ConstructionSkills is committed to ensuring that local people make the most of the opportunities that the Olympics and the Thames Gateway will open up to them. We will support local people and local businesses so that the training is available, skills are developed and that jobs remain after the last race is run.

On the Starting Blocks

Our starting point will be to plan the future skills needs around the construction of the Games. We will make contact with the consultants chosen to oversee the construction programme so that we are involved at the earliest strategic planning stages in order to match the pattern of skills requirements against project designs.

We will be drawing on the outputs of our ?Construction Skills Network? - a new initiative which combines the ConstructionSkills forecasting model with the dynamic collaboration of key groups, drawn from our partners, Government and industry. This will help us to identify any potential skills gaps and enable us to focus our training initiatives accordingly.

A Track Record of Success

We will be using the high profile construction of the Olympic Games to increase apprenticeships and encourage a new generation of people to join our industry. There is a significant opportunity to recruit and train local people and deliver the regeneration of an entire community for the direct benefit of everyone who lives there.

The local people trained on these programmes can then help to deliver early Thames Gateway projects before moving on to building the Olympic infrastructure and finally maintaining the facilities for use after 2012.

World Class Training Facilities

We also believe that there is an opportunity for upskilling and qualifying the existing construction workforce by including qualifications and training in tender specifications for these major construction projects. We look forward to repeating the tremendous success achieved at Terminal 5, in working with BAA and Laing O?Rourke and qualifying the workforce through world class, on-site training facilities.

Our existing products and services can be easily deployed on Thames Gateway and Olympic Games projects, for instance:

Programme Led Pathways - working with the top college trainees in the Thames Gateway, giving them fast track access to NVQ and, in return, helping employers by ensuring the trainees are on-site five days a week
STEP into Construction - We provide dedicated support to help women and individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds to get a job in construction. This specialist trial programme supports the employer through diversity training for staff as well supporting the individual (for example covering costs such as short-term childcare). We work to ensure that the trial period is fair and equal for both parties and that a final decision on recruitment is made on merit alone.
Sustainable Communities through Construction Training ? we are working to ensure that developing the skills of local youngsters is tied into the regeneration needs of local communities. We are working to ensure that trainees from the Thames Gateway have the skills to build the region?s decent and affordable homes, the new schools and new community facilities. The focus of our work is to ensure that local people build their own environment.
An Early Lead

The Constructing London 2012 Team is keen to establish partnerships and alliances with developers and stakeholders to implement focused training initiatives on the ground as quickly as possible.

If you would like to join us, please contact tina.killian@citb.co.uk


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