ONE of the country’s first purpose-built construction academies officially opened this week at Southall Waterside.

It aims to tackle the UK’s construction skills crisis and address the exodus of talent from the industry.

West London Construction Academy is situated on Berkeley’s 88-acre regeneration site in Southall and will be delivered in partnership with West London College.

Recent figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors show more people are leaving the construction industry than joining it, threatening productivity and growth.

If not addressed, it is feared the workforce will drop by 20–25% in the next decade.

Berkeley Group chief executive Rob Perrins said: “We want people to see that an apprenticeship is often just the first step of a lifelong career.

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"Half of our 15 divisional managing directors don’t have a degree, with four starting out as apprentices.”

Courses available include bricklaying, plastering, dry-lining and carpentry and are open to anyone aged 16 and above.

Southall Waterside, on the old gasworks site, will eventually include 3,750 new homes, a cinema, hotel, restaurants, shops and improved access to the Grand Union Canal.

Akisam Mugezi, 24, an apprentice at Southall, said: “My apprenticeship changed my life. I was struggling between jobs but I knew I needed to do something to turn my life around.

“But, even when I got my apprenticeship, I had to battle with family and friends thinking it wasn’t as good as a degree.

“They couldn’t be more wrong. There is no substitute for learning on the job.”