Latest Olympic Park workforce figures

15 Jul 2009

The ODA has published the latest employment and skills figures for the Olympic Park (June 2009).

Over 10,000 people have worked on the Olympic Park to date and of the current 4,434 strong workforce:

Approximately one in five (20 per cent) are resident in the five Host Boroughs – Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest – and over half live in London (53 per cent)
One in ten (10 per cent) was previously unemployed and of the five Host Borough residents working on the Olympic Park a fifth (20 per cent) were previously unemployed
One in ten (10 per cent) are doing a traineeship, apprenticeship or work placement.

The ‘Job, Skills, Futures’ targets include:

Delivering a construction workforce made up of at least 10-15 per cent of residents of the five Host Boroughs;
Ensuring at least 7 per cent of the workforce is made up of previously unemployed people before working on London 2012;
Placing at least 2,250 people into traineeships, apprenticeships and work placements (up to 2012).

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 over 500 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, for people to get the skills needed to win work on the Olympic Park and continue their career development once in work.
As part of this Academy a temporary Plant Training Centre on the Olympic Park site provided local people with practical training tailored to the needs of contractors. Over 400 people graduated from the Plant Training Centre and over half went on to get work on the Olympic Park site. A permanent centre in east London opens shortly.
A Construction Skills Certification Scheme health and safety test centre opened on the Olympic Park in December 2008 which has helped 715 applicants achieve the basic health and training to access a job on this and other sites.
A commitment to an additional 250 apprenticeships to be created on the Olympic Park and Olympic Villiage partly through the inclusion of a specific requirement to take on apprentices in future contracts. This clause sets a target of 3 per cent for apprentices in the future workforce of projects currently being procured.
A target of 2,250 trainees, apprenticeships and work placements working on the Olympic Park and Village, including a programme aimed at specifically at placing women into construction jobs. There are currently 450 trainees, apprentices and people on work placements currently working on the Olympic Park.

Notes to editors:

To ensure transparency regarding the workforce, the ODA collect and publish figures on the Olympic Park workforce. This data is supplied by contractors.
Only 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 to their contractors
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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For further information please contact the Olympic Delivery Authority Press Office on +44 (0)20 3 2012 700.

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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