England Construction Opportunities - WMCA

"At the West Midlands Combined Authority employer engagement is managed through a golden thread from Local Authority and WMCA Section 106 social value agreements for new entrant employment. Regionally, WMCA and its partners are members of the SEEC Group for HS2/BBV main works and Lendlease Perry Barr and Smithfield programmes which will run for the period and beyond the ECO programme. WMCA providers also jointly run on site training hubs established with employers following WMCA holding CSF1 contracts, establishing sustainable on site hubs with Lendlease, Willmott Dixon and John Sisk.
WMCA intention is to maintain our Construction Gateway brand and then offer to specific resident progressors, employers and labour supply partners the ECO offer where it can be established there are risks to retention when individuals are engaged but ECO will also be offered to residents as a voluntary opt in offer to assist with their transition to sector employment, especially where they are recruited from a disadvantaged group eg. care leaver, female, ex-offender. Pipeline vacancy activity in the WMCA region includes over 250 construction projects in Birmingham as well as an equal amount across our other local authorities including our extension to midland metro civil engineering, our residential house building programme, part funded by Homes England and direct and indirect activity required for HS2 including 4 new railway stations and our SPRINT 2 programme following the Commonwealth Games.
WMCA work closely with their training providers preparing the individuals for the job opportunity and as part of this framework ALL training providers must also offer free e-learning in specific areas of identified weakness for new entrant sector retention eg. mental health training as well as 24-hour access line support from partner organisations. All employers supporting ECO will also need to commit to an in work coach to assist individuals when training organisations are not accessible on site. The ECO fund will enable WMCA to co-ordinate this work and retain individuals in the West Midland construction community. "