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Bristol Council’s housing company launches on-site skills academy
Bristol Council’s housing company has launched a new skills academy on a live development site in the north of the city.
The council’s commercial housing arm, Goram Homes, has opened the new training centre at One Lockleaze, a brownfield site where the firm is building 268 new homes.
It has been set up with developer Countryside Partnerships and training provider Partners in Bristol, with the skills academy offering free short courses to anyone over the age of 19 and provides the essential skills required to secure a job in construction.
The academy has classrooms and practical workspaces, meaning students can learn the art of plastering, plumbing or brickwork on an active building site.
In a release, Goram Homes said the new centre will offer young people the change to gain “life-changing” skills.
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Ragan Rylatt-Williams is one of the first students to receive training at the One Lockleaze Skills Academy.
He said: “My dream is to own my own development site, to help other people. I want to build affordable houses for people who are struggling, and I want to be able to build a house for my mum any my grandparents.”
When complete, the One Lockleaze site will be home to 121 market sale homes and 147 affordable homes, made up of a mix of social rent and shared ownership.
Stephen Baker, managing director of Goram Homes, said: “The skills learned here could be life changing. By offering free courses on our development sites, we’re giving people a crucial head-start into a construction career and training the next generation of house builders.
“It’s a great example of how developers can do much more than build houses – we can support the communities in which we build, too.”
According to Goram Homes, the skills academy will help with the severe skills shortage the construction industry is currently battling with.
It pointed to the latest data from Construction Skills Network, which showed that an extra 225,000 construction workers may be needed by 2027 to meet UK demand.
The One Lockleaze development is one of two major schemes being built by the Countryside Partnerships and Goram Homes, with the second located on a former airport site in the south of the city.
The 1,435-home Hengrove Park scheme will provide a new 22-hectare park, as well as a sports pavilion and community space.
Stephen Teagle, chief executive at Countryside Partnerships, said: “We set up our skills academies more than five years ago, to help train local people while also combatting the nationwide construction skills shortage.
“Since then, our academies have welcomed more than 800 people, and we’re delighted to be launching this new programme at One Lockleaze in partnership with Goram Homes and Partners in Bristol.
“If you’ve ever considered a career in construction, or if you’d like to re-skill and retrain, this is the programme for you.”
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