GLASGOW—January 25, 2008

Glasgow City Council has approved plans to have a Construction Skills Academy up and running by August 2008. Operated by the Council’s arms-length organisation, City Building (Glasgow) LLP, the Skills Academy will provide training for people to give them the chance of finding jobs in the construction industry to help with the continued regeneration of the city.

The Skills Academy will be based at the former St John’s Primary School in Laurieston, which is to undergo a £1.5m facelift. It is expected that a minimum of 266 annual training places will be provided and it is hoped that more than 50% of trainees will find jobs each year. This figure compares favourably with job outcomes from other similar schemes.

Among those to be targeted are people who are not currently in employment, education or training, including the 16-24 year old age group, many of whom have left school and gone into short-term employment or have not yet entered the employment market. Courses on offer will include ceramic tiling, painting, partition joinery, paving, kerb-laying and timber kit assembly. However, the training programme will be flexible enough to provide courses for construction skills that are currently in demand by employers in the city. The Academy, which will use staff from local colleges rather than employing the trainers directly, will constantly monitor the industry and react quickly to changes and emerging trends by tailoring its courses around the needs of the marketplace. The majority of the courses will be relatively short and designed to be added to on an ongoing basis through an open ended training regime.

Demand for jobs within the construction industry is high, with various factors such as the Clyde Waterfront projects, the 2014 Commonwealth Games and other major public and private sector construction projects in the city all adding to pressure on the industry.

The Academy is one of the key actions in the city’s new economic strategy, which aims to deliver a 10-year vision for Glasgow of “building a world-class city achieving its potential to deliver sustainable wealth and wellbeing for all its citizens”. Councillor Steven Purcell, Leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “The construction industry in Glasgow is enjoying a huge period of growth at the moment, so it makes sense to use this to create opportunities for people. In addition, the Academy will be flexible enough to change courses to meet the demands of the industry. We want to reach out to people who are missing out on that current success, especially some of our young people who have left school and have never found work. “The Commonwealth Games are only six years away, and we want everyone in the city to benefit from the opportunities they will bring.”

Media Enquiries
Please contact Mel Brookes, City Building’s Marketing Manager in the first instance on +44 (0)141 1287 1956, +44 (0)7734 597296 or e-mail melanie.brookes@citybuildingglasgow.co.uk

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