New City College named a Technical Excellence College in £100 million construction skills drive

Exciting news puts NCC at the heart of Britain’s skills revolution

New City College has been confirmed as one of just 10 Construction Technical Excellence Colleges (CTECs) across the country and will receive part of a £100 million government investment to train thousands of construction workers.

This announcement will benefit students, employers, and communities as the college – with construction training centres in Rainham, Epping Forest and Hackney – will receive extra funding to deliver training in sectors where there are skills shortages.

Local aspiring builders, electricians, carpenters, bricklayers and roofers will be able to take advantage of cutting-edge training for skills that are in demand from employers and for jobs within the construction industry in the years to come.

NCC will be the Greater London hub for excellence and will collaborate to improve training standards across other local colleges and training centres, making high-quality education more accessible throughout the region.

The investment will help towards practical training that is designed in partnership with employers who are keen to offer apprenticeships or to recruit skilled workers straight from college.

Gerry McDonald CBE, Group Principal and CEO at New City College, said:

“New City College is well placed to lead construction skills development as the London region’s Construction Technical Excellence College.

“With our specialist construction and engineering campus at Rainham and industry-driven construction and green skills training centres at our Hackney and Epping Forest campuses, we are already delivering joined up training across the London area.

“This new specialist college status will formalise and develop our work with other colleges and training providers, and even more sector-leading employers, to share expertise and give Londoners the skills and qualifications they need to embrace construction career opportunities now and in the future.

“Our team wholeheartedly welcomes this new initiative and we are proud and excited to play such a key role.”

The announcement comes at a time when the UK has a shortage of construction workers who are needed to start building more homes, with figures from the Office for National Statistics showing around 35,000 job vacancies need to be plugged in the sector.

The 10 new Construction Technical Excellence Colleges – New City College, Greater London; Derby College Group, East Midlands; West Suffolk College, East of England; City of Sunderland College, North East; Wigan and Leigh College, North West; North Kent College, South East; Exeter College, South West; Bedford College, cross-regional; Dudley College of Technology, West Midlands; and Leeds College of Building, Yorkshire and the Humber – will operate on a ‘hub and spoke’ model, working with local training providers and employers to boost training standards and share expertise.