Almost 250 apprentices have been placed with contractors on the Olympic Park to begin their two to four year training and the first 31 to become fully fledged trades people were recognised at a recent graduation ceremony.
Of the current 6,450 strong Olympic Park workforce just under one in five (19%) are resident in the five Host Boroughs and over half live in London (52%). These proportions have remained consistent throughout the Olympic Park ‘big build’ despite the increase in total workforce and contractors utilising existing staff during a challenging period for the construction industry.
3,101 training places have been delivered through the National Skills Academy for Construction including the Plant Training Centre and Thames House Training centre in Newham set up to provide training and work opportunities on the Olympic Park and other construction sites.
ODA Chairman John Armitt said:
'The Olympic Park ‘big build’ is on track and set to peak as we progress through this year, the toughest period for the project. We are providing a range of work and training opportunities in a challenging time for the UK construction industry and meeting our commitments to an employment and skills legacy for people living around the Olympic Park. By creating 350 apprentice positions we are helping young people get their first foot on the ladder to a career in construction.'
The ODA’s ‘Job, Skills, Futures’ targets include delivering an Olympic Park construction workforce made up of at least 15 per cent of residents of the five Host Boroughs.
The ‘Jobs, Skills, Futures’ strategy to boost the Olympic Park jobs and skills legacy includes:
- A jobs brokerage service, in partnership with Jobcentre Plus and the five Host Boroughs, that matches candidates living locally and elsewhere in the UK with Olympic Park job opportunities. Since May 2008, 915 jobs have been filled through the brokerage, which gives local people a 48 hours to access jobs before they are advertised more widely.
- A National Skills Academy for Construction funded by ConstructionSkills, the Learning and Skills Council and the London Development Agency. This coordinates training across a range of providers, which now includes the Thames House Training Centre, in addition to a Plant Training centre for people to get the skills needed to win work on the Olympic Park and continue their career development once in work.
- A Community and Trade Union Learning Centre run by Unionlearn has opened by the Olympic Park site, off Pudding Mill Lane, for site workers and members of the local community. www.ctulearning.org.uk
- A commitment to an additional 250 apprenticeships to be created on the Olympic Park and Olympic Village, including through the introduction of a specific requirement to take on apprentices in future contracts. This clause sets a target of three per cent for apprentices in the future workforce of projects currently being procured. Currently 242 apprentices have been recruited onto the project.
Notes to editors:
- images of the first Olympic Park apprentices graduation can be downloaded at: http://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePath/locog?nav=pr138951049
- To ensure transparency regarding the workforce, the ODA collect and publish figures on the Olympic Park workforce, collected through the enrolment process. The figures can be downloaded at: http://www.london2012.com/publications/employment-and-skills-update-july-2010.php
- ‘Park people’, a document which profiles people working on the Park, can be downloaded at: http://www.london2012.com/publications/jobs-skills-futures-park-people-july-2010.php
- A videoblog of one of the site workers about their experience working on the Park can be viewed at: http://www.london2012.com/videos/2010/park-people.php
- Workers included in the Olympic Park statistics are those who have spent at least five days working on the site over the period of measurement applied.
- The more detailed breakdowns of the contractor workforce apply solely to the Olympic Park workforce at this stage.
- Only Olympic Park workers that give a permanent address in one of the five host boroughs are counted as local. We are reliant on the accuracy of the information provided by workers at their point of enrolment.
- The ODA does not have a minimum period of residence in a host borough before a person is classed as resident there. This convention is used by numerous other public authorities including Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, Local Taxation and Valuation, amongst others, which deems a person to be a resident in an area from the day they move permanently to the specific address.
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The construction of the venues and infrastructure of the London 2012 Games is funded by the National Lottery through the Olympic Lottery Distributor, The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Mayor of London and the London Development Agency.
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