Glasgow City Council’s new Construction Skills Academy was opened by the Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, on Friday.

The academy will provide training for people to give them the chance of finding jobs in the construction industry to help with the continued regeneration of the city and the preparations for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Based at the former St John’s Primary School in Laurieston the building had a £1.5m facelift before starting to accept trainees. Some short courses started running in August of this year.

A minimum of 266 training places will be provided during the academy’s first year and once fully operational up to 400 individuals per year can be trained.

Among those to be targeted are people who are not currently in employment, education or training, including the 16-24 year old age group, many of whom have left school and gone into short-term employment or have not yet entered the employment market.

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The academy will seek to target some of the hardest to reach groups, including long-term unemployed, incapacity benefit claimants and other priority groups within the city.

Mr Darling said: "This academy is really important, especially at a time like this when things are slowing down. Now, it’s all the more important to make sure we have got the right skills and the right training.

"In Glasgow, there are tremendous opportunities in the construction industry as we work towards the Commonwealth Games in six years’ time. This academy provides a chance for young people to learn skills that will help them for the rest of their lives, as well as helping companies and the whole country."

Councillor Steven Purcell, Leader of the Council, said: "There is £4.5bn of construction work under way or planned in Glasgow and our apprenticeship scheme and other measures we are taking will leave the city extremely well-placed in the future.

"The Commonwealth Games are only six years away, and we want everyone in the city to benefit from the opportunities they will bring."

The academy will offer employer-led training and qualifications in construction disciplines, including joinery, plumbing, painting, tiling, roofing, road works, timber kit assembly and support trades.

Training programmes will be flexible enough to provide courses for construction skills that are currently in demand by employers in the city. The academy, which will use staff from local colleges rather than employing the trainers directly, will constantly monitor the industry and react quickly to changes and emerging trends by tailoring its courses around the needs of the marketplace.

(GK)