Skills Minister Nick Boles has announced £1.1 million of government funding to match £1.7 million of industry investment to help create a legacy of engineering jobs and skills from major projects including the Crossrail development.
The project brings together industry leaders, including Crossrail-linked employers, working on major tunnelling and underground construction projects. It follows a successful bid from the group for funding through the government’s Employer Ownership Pilot.
Skills Minister Nick Boles said: "Our investment in major infrastructure projects has established the UK as a world-leader in tunnelling and underground construction.
"Crossrail alone is supporting in the region of 55,000 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."
The plans will focus on creating new routes into tunnelling jobs, as well as building the skills of current employees to provide the skilled workforce needed for major new projects like Crossrail 2 and High Speed 2. This includes:
- creating and funding 75 new apprenticeships to provide new long-term careers
- creating and delivering 20 specialist marine apprenticeships
- creating a range of accredited courses to up-skill the tunnelling workforce, working with small sub-contractors and employees at all levels to train a total of 4,813 workers.
This project will create a new industry partnership involving tunnelling and underground construction employers, to generate lasting benefits for current and future engineers. Part of the partnership’s work will see the creation of a new Industry Advisory Panel (IAP), representing all Crossrail-linked employers and future large tunnelling employers, working together to identify 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."
More than £460 billion of public and private investment will be made into the UK’s economic infrastructure by 2020.
