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Keith Marshall, Chief Executive of SummitSkills, looks at what winning the 2012 Olympic bid means for the building services engineering sector and how the vast skills requirement will be met.
It wasn’t until 6 July 2005 that the months of speculation
became a reality. The announcement that London will host the
2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games presented an immediate
need for a skilled workforce to create a built environment that
had been, until now, simply plans on paper.
Overall, the Games provide an unprecedented opportunity to
improve the employment prospects and career development of
local people in and around Thames Gateway. Around 70,000 jobs
will be created in the vicinity of the Olympic Park over the next 12
years, in a part of London that has historically been a low-wage,
low-skill economy.
For the building services engineering sector, there will be a huge
demand for a workforce that can fulfil the requirement for around
9000 homes and over 100,000sq metres of stadia. The Olympic
Village alone has an estimated construction cost of £59.3 million.
With this massive workforce requirement comes a need to
produce a step change in the delivery of skills for the built
environment. A number of ongoing developments in the South East
– Heathrow’s Terminal 5, Wembley Stadium and large PFI hospital
contracts - means that the Olympics are calling for skills from a
labour force already thinly spread in that geographical area.
Addressing the issue is not a simple task, but it is an achievable
one. SummitSkills is working with the Learning & Skills Council
and partner Sector Skills Councils in the built environment to
project what skills will be required at each stage of the construction
schedule.
It will also be important to work closely with developers and
contractors throughout the planning process, to understand the
type and timing of job opportunities along with any specialist skills
requirements such as new environmental technologies being used
in the buildings.
This forward planning will allow training solutions to be
developed, along with funding packages to support these
programmes.
Business opportunities
For the large number of small, medium and micro businesses in
the region, the Games presents a massive opportunity to access
new markets, find new trading partners and compete for major
contracts. The organisers of London 2012 are keen to ensure that
as many local businesses as possible are able to compete for and
win contracts associated with the Games.
In order for SMEs and micro-businesses to benefit, it is hoped
that an ‘Olympic Business Intelligence Unit’ will be developed, to
act as a single point of contact with developers regarding the
phasing of work and the contracting/sub-contracting opportunities.
The service will give advanced warning of future potential contracts
and will allow businesses to develop mutually beneficial
relationships with clients and buyers.
A business club is also in the pipeline, giving firms of all sizes the
opportunity to network and, where appropriate, develop joint
ventures and consortia approaches.
Job and skills brokerage
Work has already started on developing a job brokerage service
for the project. Its purpose will be to enable local communities to
access the numerous job opportunities that arise as part of the
2012 development. Alongside providing information, this service is
also envisaged to support local job seekers with services such as
employability advice and mentoring, referral to appropriate training
services and possible aftercare/progression programme
In addition to the job brokerage service, SummitSkills is
recommending a ‘skills
brokerage’ model. While job
brokerage will address the
immediate employment of those with the appropriate skills in the
local and wider community, it is skills brokerage - developing the
skills base in the local and wider community - that will ultimately
address the issue of long term skills gaps and employment in the
built environment sectors.
A main focus of the Olympic development is the desire to create
sustainable communities. To ensure training opportunities are
given to those living in the five main boroughs linked to the Olympic
area; the Major Projects Agreement Forum is working with
contractors and developers on integration with the local population.
This ethos is particularly applicable to our sector, where
maintenance of the Olympic Village and its structures will be
required long after the event has taken place.
There are a number of projects already underway that will help
address the vast skills needs for the development. Helping SMEs to
provide apprenticeships, training local people in building services
techniques, providing tutors in colleges and training for on-site
assessors will all help to meet skills requirements. Building
services engineering firms in the region can get involved in the
projects to benefit their own business as well as the wider
community.
Construction work is already underway and before long the
workforce will be required to design and install the building
services systems. The 2012 Olympic Games presents a huge
business prospect for firms in the sector. Planning at this stage will
allow labour to be sourced and skills to be developed - ensuring
that these firms can successf
