Brown and Kelly highlight drive to boost house-building skills

The Chancellor Gordon Brown and Education Secretary Ruth Kelly visited one of the biggest regeneration projects in central London today in an effort to highlight the government's drive to boost the skills of Britain's workforce.

The Cabinet ministers met students at a "model" on-site training centre based within Battersea Power Station that provides construction skills for students.

The centre is a joint venture between developers Parkview International, their construction manager Bovis Lend Lease, the Learning and Skills Council and Lambeth College to provide skills in areas such as carpentry, bricklaying and painting and decorating.

Ms Kelly, who, with Mr Brown, met students at the site, said it was a "model" of collaboration between further education and employers.

She said: "It is hugely important, it is a model of how we see further education colleges working with employers and I would like to see this sort of practice taken up in every single further education college so that we have the skills that employers want and the qualifications that they need."

The training provided by the centre will cover a range of skills including heritage bricklaying which will be needed when work begins on the restoration and preservation of the 1931 power station this summer. It is forecast that construction on the 38-acre site will require around 3,000 jobs.

The work includes restoring and preserving the power station and transforming it into a new leisure and entertainment complex with bars, clubs, restaurants, cinemas and shops.

The site surrounding the power station will house two hotels, offices, and other features including a 2,000-seat auditorium for indoor sports events as well as conventional shows, and 700 apartments.

The £1.1billion scheme is scheduled to open by the end of 2009 or the beginning of 2010.

Ian Rumgay, corporate communications director for Parkview International, said there was a shortage of skilled workers in the construction trade.

He said: "In the construction trade there is a shortage of skilled workers and there is a huge demand and a lot of capital construction projects underway at the moment.

"With the Olympics coming there will be even more so it is important that we get more people qualified in the various construction trades and particularly to attract women, we have been working with various organisations to get women into construction."

The Chancellor and Ms Kelly met a number of female construction students on their visit. They included Trina Downey-Hollamby, 16, from Stretton in south-east London. Miss Downey-Hollamby, who is studying bricklaying, said she was enjoying her course.

"I have been brought up in it and my dad is a builder and I am very used to the lifestyle. Some women see that there are loads of blokes around and say they can't handle it but I feel fine," she said.

Copyright Press Association 2006.