The City of Edinburgh Council has won the David Kennedy Excellent People Award at this year's COSLA Awards.

The special accolade celebrates the exceptional people at the core of local government excellence. As a finalist in one of COSLA's five overall categories, the Council was chosen for its outstanding impact while meeting the challenges of everyday service delivery.

The recognition highlights the Council's Construction Skills pathways project, which supports more school leavers into employment in the construction sector. The initiative improves attainment through relevant, engaging courses while responding to labour market needs.

Edinburgh school leavers' attainment is rising, with national benchmarks improving across most measures. The number of National Progression Awards achieved by City of Edinburgh school leavers has increased from 900 in 2023 to 1944 in 2025.

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The programme is delivered through partnerships. Edinburgh College has expanded construction courses into school-based sites across the city, supported by Kier Construction and Balfour Beatty. Courses include traditional skills, such as a National 5 qualification in stonemasonry aligned to local shortages, delivered alongside teachers with funding from community benefits and in partnership with Historic Environment Scotland and the Scottish Traditional Building Forum. A collaboration with local firm Compass Roofing also supports a National 5 roofing qualification.

Councillor James Dalgleish, Education, Children and Families Convener said: "This award is a fantastic acknowledgement of the innovative and proactive approach we as a Council are taking to improve outcomes for young people in Edinburgh. We want to narrow the gap between the most and least disadvantaged learners in Edinburgh, and our construction pathways work is one of the ways we are doing this. The attainment outcomes speak for themselves, with over double the number of National Progression Awards achieved by Edinburgh young people since 2023. This work is helping even more learners to see the relevance of their learning in relation to real-world career opportunities and supporting them to map out their journey beyond school."