More than 4,000 builders on Olympics

The total workforce building the Olympic Park has broken the 4,000 barrier with one half of 2012 construction workers living in London.

Nearly one in ten of the workforce were previously unemployed and nearly one in ten is a trainee, apprentice or on a work placement. 

A fifth of the workforce is resident in the local area and over half live in London.

Olympic Delivery Authority chief executive David Higgins said: "Numbers are ramping up sharply across the site and there is not a trace of complacency across the project about the challenges ahead.

"We are hitting our milestones and have put in place strong foundations but there is a big challenge ahead."

 The latest figures show that of the 4,101 strong Olympic Park workforce:

 Approximately one in five (20%) are resident in the five Host Boroughs – Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest – and over half live in London (53 per cent);

 Nearly one in ten (9%) was previously unemployed;

 Nearly one in ten (9%) are doing a traineeship, apprenticeship or work placement.

 The Olympic Park workforce figures were announced as a new centre for the National Skills Academy for Construction (NSAfC) was launched. 

 The National Construction College east London campus at Thames House in Newham will provide thousands of training opportunities. The new centre will help Londoners develop the right skills to continue to help deliver the venues and infrastructure for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and other large-scale projects taking place across the region, such as Stratford City and Crossrail.