The mayor of London has announced an £88.6m investment to train the capital’s next generation of construction workers, as the industry faces growing pressure to deliver hundreds of thousands of new homes while addressing persistent skills shortages.
The package, funded by the Department for Education (DfE), will provide more than 20,000 construction training opportunities, alongside industry placements and investment in college facilities and equipment across London.
The announcement was made during a visit to The Earls Court Development Company, where London mayor Sadiq Khan met learners, including electrical installation trainee Badmos, who is preparing to begin an apprenticeship.
The investment comes as London seeks to deliver up to 558,000 new homes by 2037 under the draft London Plan, while developers continue to grapple with high construction and borrowing costs and challenging market conditions.
At the same time, the capital’s construction sector faces significant labour shortages, particularly in skilled trades including bricklaying, carpentry, plumbing and electrical installation, alongside growing demand for retrofit and other low-carbon construction skills. According to the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), Greater London will require around 26,500 additional construction workers over the next five years to meet demand.
Funding facilities and provision
The funding package includes up to £43m for further education colleges to improve construction training facilities and equipment, together with a £2.5m fund to develop and expand new training provision co-designed with the Interim Construction and Built Environment Talent Board.
More than 2,700 industry teaching days will also be delivered by construction professionals through the Further Education Teacher Industry Exchange programme, giving learners greater access to current industry expertise.
New City College and South Bank Colleges have been appointed by the government as strategic partners for Construction and Clean Energy respectively. They will lead London’s network of training providers, helping to improve training quality and strengthen technical education across the capital.
Alongside the construction skills package, the mayor has announced a further £3.2m of Greater London Authority funding to establish three virtual pan-London Sector Hubs covering the built environment, creative industries and life sciences. The hubs aim to strengthen collaboration between employers and training providers and ensure skills provision better reflects the needs of London’s economy.
The latest investment builds on London’s Inclusive Talent Strategy, launched last year to give employers a greater role in shaping skills provision and addressing workforce shortages in key sectors.
