Industry bigwigs attack college chaos

Some of the industry's biggest names have written a letter to the Times protesting against funding being pulled for construction's main training college.

Bosses from Costain, Laing O'Rourke, Kier, Morgan Ashurst, Wates and Willmott Dixon want the government to find the cash to build the National Construction College East after it fell victim to the Learning and Skills Council's funding problems.

The letter states: "This is a difficult time for the construction industry, which typically contributes 8% of GDP to the UK’s economy. We are, therefore, seriously concerned about the Learning and Skills Council’s recent decision to withhold capital funding from the National Construction College East (NCC) based in Norfolk. The NCC trains 30,000 adults and 800 apprentices every year across the UK — the majority trained at NCC East where more than 150 courses in highly specialist skills are on offer to support the construction industry and organisations like ours.

"Nationally, no other college is capable of providing the facilities, specialist equipment and teaching expertise to deliver this type of training. However, the NCC is now in an extremely precarious position. Students are faced with facilities that are more than 70 years old and in dire need of redevelopment to meet today’s standards. The college was poised to begin a £26 million redevelopment programme, which has now been cancelled by the LSC.

"It is hard for us to view this decision as anything other than a withdrawal of support by the Government for an industry that underpins the national economy and that will help to support the country out of recession. We call on the Government and the LSC to rectify this decision, which will have long-term consequences for the economy."

The letter was signed by Jeremy Galpin, Group Skills and Development Manager, Costain. Paul Sealy, Head of Organisation Development, Kier Group.Tony Douglas, Chief Operating Officer,Laing O’Rourke.Peter Whitmore, Operations Director, Morgan Ashurst. Julia Tyson, Group HR Director, Wates Group.Rick Willmott,CEO, Willmott Dixon Group.Dave Mosley,Training Manager, CISRS. Robin James, Managing Director, NASC. Stephen Ratcliffe, Director, UKCG.