Greater access to local jobs in Southwark's vertical city
Published 4 November 2010
Southwark Council's planning committee has approved the £4.4m Shard Southwark Vocational Programme which will ensure Southwark residents will benefit from the job opportunities in the Shard.
The programme is a collaborative venture between the council and Shard developers Sellar, who both share a vision to ensure that the landmark development can be used to transform the lives of borough residents.
Bringing in Southwark College to design and run purpose-built vocational training, the programme will deliver tailor-made courses to provide the skills directly needed for the variety of job opportunities in the building; at the same time it will create a referral programme involving local organisations to make sure that it works for our residents and that there is fair access to the opportunities for all who have the potential to benefit.
The variety of opportunities is a direct result of the mix of organisations moving into the completed building which is dubbed a "vertical city", from jobs in the viewing galleries, hotel, offices, restaurants, and security services.
Councillor Fiona Colley, cabinet member for regeneration, said: "We are excited that managers from the Shangri-La Hotel and Sellars are thinking forward and working closely with the college to help design courses and to guarantee interviews for local people, two years before The Shard is due to open.
"This is exactly the sort of partnership project we need to ensure that Southwark residents really do get a shot at the new jobs coming into the borough and that regeneration truly benefits our community as well as developers and businesses."
In addition to £25m being spent on a new bus station, train station concourse, public plaza and connections to the underground, the £4.4m vocational programme will ensure the building has a far reaching impact.
James Sellar, CEO of Sellar Group, says: "We are creating thousands of jobs at London Bridge, and this programme gives us a unique two-year head start before the building completes in May 2012 to plan and design really effective training and access projects to really make a difference to the lives of Southwark residents."
As well as forging strong links between the tenants of the building and the local community, the programme is investing in the delivery of cutting edge training environments.
Ruth Gilbert, the new principal of Southwark College is inspired by the potential the programme offers: "New training facilities are to be constructed which move away from classroom based instruction to "real work" environments, with commercial workshops to provide hands on vocational training directly linked to Shard jobs."
