Mayor boosts construction skills for Londoners

The Mayor also published London’s first ever Skills and Adult Education Strategy – Skills for Londoners – which aims to ensure all Londoners have the skills, education and training they need to succeed and help the capital’s economy to thrive.

Sadiq believes London’s housing crisis is the single biggest challenge facing the capital and risks leading to an exodus of talent, as increasing numbers of young Londoners find themselves unable to afford to live and work in the city.

The Mayor has already made significant progress in tackling London’s need for more housing. He is on track to deliver his ambition of starting 116,000 genuinely affordable homes by 2022, while in 2017/18 more than 12,500 new affordable homes were started – the highest number since City Hall took on responsibility for housing.

However, this hard work could be undermined by a looming skills shortage in London’s construction sector, which is threatening to drive up costs and delay much-needed developments. There are also still concerns around Brexit and the future status of EU workers, who currently account for around a third of London’s construction workforce.

The Mayor’s Construction Academy has been developed with the support of construction employers, industry experts and skills providers to close the gap between the need for more homes and the shortage of skilled construction workers. Rather than a single centre, the Academy is a network of construction skills providers across London which will work closely together and with construction employers.

A Mayor’s Construction Academy ‘quality mark’ has been created to identify high-quality construction skills training provision. The Mayor announced which skills providers have been arded the quality marks and will join councils, housing associations, homebuilders and construction companies in being eligible to bid for funding to better coordinate skills training with employers’ needs, as well as engaging with local schools to promote construction careers.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “London is home to some of the most exciting and dynamic talent but there’s no denying we face a shortage in construction skills and that this is hampering our ability to tackle London’s housing crisis.

“London faces a number of skills challenges and today I have laid out my plans to address these and, in so doing, make London’s skills system the envy of the world.”