It’s not just the transport industry that faces the pressures of changing demand against a backdrop of a set of global challenges. The built environment is contending with a longstanding skills shortage and the pandemic has only made this problem worse. COVID-19 undoubtedly exacerbated well-established inequalities, such as poverty, attainment in education and access to meaningful work experience.
We’ve recognised that our development programme will require skilled resource for decades to come, and from the outset we’ve been keen to do all we can to provide training and opportunity to people across the capital. Our Construction Skills team is helping hundreds of people take their first steps in the construction industry or find new challenges to help them move into the next chapter of their career. The team is working with developers, architects, contractors and even archaeologists to help people find roles in local construction projects. These roles not only allow our trainees to get qualifications — such as their Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) card — they also put them front and centre in shaping the future of their local area.
Our trainees and apprentices will go into an exciting industry that is constantly changing. Over the past two years, working with our partners at The Skills Centre and Keltbray Training, we’ve helped over 1,000 people into long-term employment within the construction industry. The majority of our trainees are from ethnic minority backgrounds and, I’m pleased to say, a growing number are women. Women are still massively underrepresented in this industry, however these training courses will help women into STEM roles such as Construction Management and Surveying.
I recently met Chantelle at one of our training hubs. She’s currently the only woman on her construction site in south London and is the first woman her company has ever employed to do formwork. Chantelle is an inspiration, but we all need to do more, and we can only do that by showing that there are opportunities and that construction is an industry where women can thrive.
It’s one of the reasons we are working with schools across London to help young people understand the huge range of roles across the built environment sector. We’re showing them that homebuilding isn’t just hard hats and high vis. Those roles are very important but there are many other types of jobs out there from communications and sales to project management and even photography and filmmaking. By broadening young people’s horizons, we are helping to play our part to ensure the industry gets fresh ways of thinking, keeping it sustainable for years to come. We’re also helping the next generation see that they can play a part in shaping London’s ever-changing skylin
As one of London’s largest landowners, and with our new commercial property company established, we are in a unique position to help change lives. We’re working in tandem with major developers, community groups, partners and local authorities to support more people with their confidence, gain essential skills and achieve sustained employment. I have seen the difference these opportunities can bring – to the person themselves, their family and the community they work in. It’s the foundation on which to grow stable careers that help rebuild London and the UK’s economy.