Simian Awarded Mayor Of London’s Construction Academy Quality Mark

We’re delighted to announce that Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has awarded Simian a Quality Mark under his new Construction Academy initiative!

The Mayor’s Construction Academy has been set up in response to London’s housing crisis and the need for more skilled construction workers.

There is currently a chronic shortage of housing, particularly affordable homes for Londoners and as a result, there are plans to build 100,000 affordable homes in London by 2022.  However, the uncertainty over Brexit and the future status of EU workers (who represent 28% of construction workers in London) may add to the existing skills shortages being experienced by construction employers.

In response, the Mayor has launched his Construction Academy to train Londoners to create a future workforce for house building employers.

Simian is one of a select number of training and further education providers, approved by the Mayor to form the Construction Academy and be awarded its Quality Mark. The Academy Quality Mark recognises excellent industry standard training provided by organisations with strong employer links. In addition to being the only specialist scaffolding training provider within the Academy, Simian were the only commercial training provider to be awarded the quality mark.

Simian intends to deliver a range of scaffolding Apprenticeships, CISRS training courses and other CITB approved construction short courses and pre-employment courses in support of the Academy’s objectives.

Discussions with other Academy training providers, local authorities and employers are currently underway, with a view to Simian forming new strategic partnership hubs to deliver training provision to meet employer needs and train Londoners to fill house building skills gaps. Simian hopes to shortly have the opportunity to bid for funding to ensure there are additional equipment and facilities available to deliver scaffolding training in London.

Speaking after the market warming event, held at the Mayor’s City Hall HQ on London’s South Bank, Simian’s Finance Director, Jackie Thomason said:

“We’re delighted that the quality of our training provision has been recognised and to get the opportunity of delivering our specialist training in London. The fact that Simian were the only commercial training provider is testament to the hard work that our team has put in over the past few years.  The Mayor’s Construction Academy is an important and exciting initiative for the nation’s capital city and we are looking forward to being an active participant in its development.”

Watch this space for further updates in the near future!