40,000 people to get skills in new Technical Excellence Colleges

More than 40,000 future builders, bricklayers, electricians, carpenters and plumbers will get cutting edge skills to get Britain building at state-of-the-art Technical Excellence Colleges unveiled today (Tuesday 12 August).

The specialist colleges will be in every region of England to deliver the workforce needed to turbocharge the building of new homes, schools and hospitals, helping to realise every Brit’s dream of owning their own home.  

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.

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.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show around 35,000 job vacancies need to be plugged in the sector.

The new specialist colleges will train 40,000 construction learners by 2029. 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 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.

Tim Balcon, Chief Executive of the Construction Industry Training Board, said: "It’s wonderful to see the progress being made towards establishing these Technical Excellence Colleges for Construction. They represent a transformative opportunity for people to complete local vocational training, helping to drive regional growth and nurture the next generation of skilled construction workers in local communities.

"This builds brilliantly on the wider £600 million construction skills package we’re delivering in partnership with government, helping create a robust pipeline of talent that will break down barriers to opportunity, delivering good jobs and powering economic growth across the UK."

Andrew Hockey, CEO at the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board, said: "Investing in Further Education and independent training providers is critical for both the construction and engineering construction industries to equip learners with sustainable, transferable and future-proofed skills.

"The construction and engineering construction workforces will be critical in delivering the UK’s industrial strategy, including major projects such as the nuclear new build sites at Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C and nascent industries such as hydrogen and carbon capture."

Roger Morton, Director of Business Change at the National Homebuilding Council, said: "We warmly welcome the announcement of ten new Construction Technical Excellence Colleges and the government’s continued investment in training for the sector to increase capacity and quality. It’s fantastic to see such support for construction skills and this commitment to training chimes with NHBC’s focus on learning.

"We’re investing £100m into our own national training programme, funding 12 new multi-skill training hubs around the UK. Providing an immersive, on-site learning experience, these hubs will deliver high quality apprentices across a range of key trades including bricklaying, groundworks and site carpentry.

"With government, the wider house-building industry and training providers aligning, we can plug the skills gap and deliver quality new homes at pace."

Julia Pyke, joint-MD at nuclear project Sizewell C, said: “Today’s announcement is exactly the kind of investment Britain needs to support a new era of large-scale infrastructure, powered by homegrown British skills and jobs.

“This is precisely why we’re building our own Sizewell C post-16 college: to train hundreds of young people in highly skilled jobs in engineering, construction, digital skills, and logistics, all of which are needed to deliver the project. In fact, across our supply chain we will support 70,000 jobs. That isn’t just a number – that’s 70,000 careers, families supported, and futures built by British hands. Today’s announcement will help deliver more homegrown talent, essential to meet the skills demands across the entire construction industry.”

The new Construction Technical Excellence Colleges are:

• Derby College Group, East Midlands
• West Suffolk College, East of England
• New City College, Greater London
• 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
• Leeds College of Building, Yorkshire and the Humber

These colleges will operate on a ‘hub and spoke’ model, working with local training providers and employers to boost training standards and share expertise.