Skills hub opens to deliver Lower Thames Crossing

A member of the LTC youth ambassador forum; Cherie Leavy, skills, education and employment lead for the LTC, Lord Blunkett, and Lauren Sullivan, MP for Faversham, discussed what the new skills hub has to offer during the opening

Free construction training will be provided at a new skills hub in a bid to develop a local workforce to build the Lower Thames Crossing (LTC).

The LTC is a 14.5-mile (23km) route estimated to cost £10bn, which will link Tilbury in Essex and Gravesend.

National Highways said the skills hub in Gravesend, which opened on Wednesday, will "create jobs and offer local people new skills by recruiting about half of its workforce within 20 miles of the project".

Lauren Sullivan, MP for Gravesham, said it was "only right that local people benefit first from the new jobs and training opportunities from the LTC project since it has the most impact on Gravesham and its residents".

Lord David Blunkett, skills advisor at LTC, said trainees will receive "accredited qualifications and a guaranteed job interview".

National Highways said the hub aims tackle industry skills shortages as there are an estimated 35,000 construction sector vacancies across the country.

Lord Blunkett said the skills hub aims to "strengthen the local supply chain and ensuring construction projects of the future can draw upon a robust workforce".

Some of the programmes include training in using hydrogen powered excavators and low-carbon concrete and steel, National Highways said.

A skills hub has also been planned for Essex.