National Skills Academy for Construction

A Unique East Midlands Property Alliance (empa) project led by Scape System Build in partnership with EMCBE has been approved and awarded funding by ConstructionSkills and goes live on Monday, 1 February 2010

A ‘National Skills Academy for Construction’ (NSAfC) status has been given to the empa project as part of a national programme of such Academies, but this is the first of its kind for a regional framework agreement.

33 so far of a total of 46 local authorities in the East Midlands are participating together in empa in order to procure construction projects across the region in a series of collaborative framework agreements.

Contractors selected to the framework have started to deliver the many and varied capital projects members wish to build, ranging from £10k to £30m in value, for their local authority and other public body clients across the region. We have a projected combined capital investment of in excess of £200m each year for the next 4 years.

The NSAfC will identify skills and training needs for the supply chain used for each project, and then by working with local trainers will seek to progress skills, competencies and qualifications for as many individuals as possible and for as long as they are assigned to each project. The Academy will also provide opportunities for Clients to attend training events to increase their technical skills and abilities to deliver projects.

The targets and expectations are challenging, but essential to the overall strategy of raising the levels and standards of skills in the construction sector, and engaging the local communities.