The college will be part of a £100m plan to equip more than 40,000 future builders, bricklayers, electricians, carpenters and plumbers with essential skills for the construction industry.
Specialist colleges will be in every region of England to deliver the workforce needed.
The Government says the move will allow the industry to draw on homegrown, British talent in the years to come rather than relying on overseas workers, ‘backing the British working class with well-paid, high-skilled job opportunities’.
The move will allow the industry to draw on homegrown, British talent in the years to come rather than relying on overseas workers, backing the British working class with well-paid, high skilled job opportunities.
Backed by a £100 million investment, the colleges will help deliver well-paid jobs for British workers, support the construction sector and deliver the government’s commitment to build 1.5 million homes through its Plan for Change.
Not only did the government inherit a severe shortage of housing, the UK also doesn’t have enough construction workers to start building more homes at the rate required, with figures from the Office for National Statistics showing around 35,000 job vacancies need to be plugged in the sector.
Britain cannot and should not rely on foreign labour, which is why the specialist colleges are central to delivering growth – by working closely with employers, existing colleges and local communities to make sure that the skills people are getting are in-demand and will lead to well-paid work.
The new specialist colleges will train 40,000 construction learners by 2029 across the UK. They will also break down barriers to opportunity, by supporting young people breaking into the sector at the start of their careers as apprentices, as well as established workers getting new skills for better paid jobs. This future proofs the economy, preserving our highly-skilled construction workforce for generations to come.
This builds on the £625 million investment announced in March, which will separately be used to train up to 60,000 more skilled construction workers by 2029. This will pay for new foundation apprenticeships, skills bootcamps and industry placements for school leavers, all of which will help lay foundations for long term economic growth through the government’s Plan for Change.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said:
We need skilled workers to deliver the homes, schools and hospitals that communities across the country are crying out for, and today’s announcement underlines our commitment to the next generation of homegrown talent.
Construction Technical Excellence Colleges will enable us to invest in people and give them the skills they need to break down barriers to opportunity in an industry which is essential to delivering growth through our Plan for Change.
The colleges will soon be online to deliver high quality skills training, announced in the same week that young people across the country get their results in A-levels, T Levels and a range of vocational qualifications.
A recent survey found that the percentage of construction firms funding or offering training to their workers has fallen from 57% in 2011 to 49% in 2024. This coincides with an increasing reliance on construction workers coming to the UK from abroad, preventing our young people from filling the skills needs of our nation and perpetuating the issue of almost one million young people not being in education, employment or training.
In response, the industry-led Construction Skills Mission Board has pledged to recruit an additional 100,000 construction workers a year by the end of this parliament. This will build on the £625 million government investment announced at Spring Statement, which will also help to provide more flexible apprenticeship options and get out of work young people into the workforce.
To deliver 1.5 million homes, the housebuilding sector will create hundreds of thousands of good jobs around the country over this Parliament. This represents one of the fastest growth rates of all priority sectors.
