Thousands of young Londoners will be trained up to work in the clean energy and technology sectors thanks to investment in two specialist colleges in the capital.
Capital City College Group, which runs eight colleges across the city, and South Bank College are among the 19 new Technical Excellence Colleges in the country backed by £175 million of government funding to ensure homegrown skills keep up with rapidly growing industries across the country.
It’s estimated that almost 600,000 additional workers will be needed by 2030 in advanced manufacturing, clean energy, defence, and digital and technologies.
Speaking exclusively to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) at South Bank College, Minister for Industry Chris McDonald said the investment will help produce 1,500 extra learners per year at the facility alone.
He also said the investment won’t only benefit young Londoners, but firms across the city desperately in need of skilled workers.
“That’s going to create good opportunities for young people who live locally, but this college actually supports people from a very wide area as well,” he said. “If we also think about where those skills are applied as well, so there are a lot of small businesses in the London area who really need skilled labour.
“There’s such a strong demand now for heat pumps, for solar thermal, for ground source heat pumps – and if they don’t get access to those skills, they won’t be able to grow their businesses. So it’s right that we think about the opportunities for young people, but we also need to think about what it’s going to mean for London businesses as well.”
While the government wants to meet its net zero emissions goal by 2050, Sir Sadiq Khan has set a target of 2030 for London.
His ‘Accelerated Green’ pathway will require mass adoption of heat pumps, including retrofitting clean energy technology in older homes.
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This will not be possible without skilled workers, however. The Mayor of London has already established ‘Green Skills Hubs’ across the city, and earlier this year announced £147.2 million for ‘upskilling’ young Londoners in crucial sectors like green technology and artificial intelligence (AI).
“It’s really important for our decarbonisation that young people have got the skills to access those jobs,” Mr McDonald added, suggesting the government’s clean energy goals were aligned with City Hall.
“We won’t get any of the decarbonisation, we won’t get the economic growth, we wouldn’t get all of that benefit without these skills.
“The green economy is growing many times faster than the normal economy, and so it is really important that we equip people to have those skills for life.”
A total £20 million of the upskilling fund will be put towards free AI training for all Londoners so the capital’s workforce keeps up with the technology, the Mayor announced earlier this year.
His Future of Work taskforce has also been told to identify which London jobs are most at risk of AI displacement and what skills are needed to mitigate any employment risks.
Mr McDonald said: “Technical colleges are more important than ever. Young people who come to them will have skills for life, whether it’s in AI, gaming or any aspect of digital and technology.
“These are cross-cutting skills which can be applied across other sectors of our industrial strategy as well. Ultimately, these digital AI tech skills, they’re vital across the entirety of the whole economy.”
Howard Dawber OBE, Deputy Mayor of London for Business and Growth, told the LDRS: “Technical Excellence Colleges will help equip Londoners with the skills they need to progress in good, well paid jobs, particularly in sectors like clean energy and digital.
“They will also ensure businesses can access the talent they need, supporting growth in London and across the UK.”
