Skills minister Nick Boles has announced £1.1m of government funding to help “create a legacy of engineering jobs and skills from major projects including the Crossrail development”.
The funds have been awarded following a successful bid from a group of Crossrail employers, including Vinci, Morgan Sindall, BAM Nuttall, Ferrovial Agroman, Kier Construction and Balfour Beatty for funding through the government’s Employer Ownership of Skills pilot – a £340m competitive fund that invited employers to tell the government how they would better use public investment to invest in the skills of their current and future workforce.
Government funding will be matched by £1.7m of industry investment.
The demand for skilled underground labour is expected to increase over the next decade due to the “unprecedented” volume of tunnelling and underground construction taking place in the UK.
A whole host of major projects are expected to follow Crossrail, with construction on the Thames Tideway Tunnel scheduled to begin in 2016, and the National Grid and EDF electricity cable tunnels all requiring significant numbers of employees.
In the longer term, tunnelling skills will be required for the construction of HS2 and Crossrail 2.
The demand for skilled underground labour is expected to increase over the next decade
The investment will be used to fund 75 new apprenticeships and 20 specialist marine apprenticeships. A range of accredited courses will also be created to upskill the tunnelling workforce and train 4,813 workers.
Following the investment, a new Industry Advisory Panel (IAP), representing all Crossrail-linked employers and future large tunnelling employers, will be created to identify potential ways to grow the industry.
Terry Morgan, Crossrail chairman, said: “The volume of tunnelling and underground construction work taking place in the UK over the next decade is unprecedented.
“Crossrail, in partnership with its principal contractors, has delivered the most significant injection of new skills in a generation. It is essential that we continue to grow the industry’s talent base to ensure Britain remains at the forefront of major infrastructure delivery.”
Skills and construction minister Nick Boles added: “Our investment in major infrastructure projects has established the UK as a world leader in tunnelling and underground construction.
“Crossrail alone is creating a total of 30,000 jobs and with other major projects planned we want to go even further, to create a jobs legacy for future generations and give the industry the skills it needs to dig deeper and further.”
