The Government has announced the locations of ten Construction Technical Excellence Colleges that it says will train up to 40,000 construction workers as part of a wider drive to deliver 1.5 million new homes during this Parliament. The colleges, which the Department for Education (DfE) says will act as regional hubs, were named as Derby College Group, West Suffolk College, New City College, City of Sunderland College, Wigan and Leigh College, North Kent College, Exeter College, Bedford College (to operate cross‑regionally), Dudley College of Technology and Leeds College of Building. According to the DfE, the selected sites will be bolstered with capital and revenue support to expand local courses and placements. (Sources: lead announcement; FE Week; DfE press materials)

The package includes a pledged £100 million of funding across capital and revenue, allocated over several years, and aims to deliver those 40,000 places by 2029 as part of the Government’s construction skills offer. The move sits alongside a separate commitment first set out earlier in the year to train an additional 60,000 construction trainees by 2029, and is linked to wider measures the Government says will expand Skills Bootcamps, foundation apprenticeships, employer incentives and industry placements. The DfE presentation of the programme frames it as a way to boost “homegrown” capacity and to reduce reliance on overseas labour. (Sources: DfE press release; government news summary)

Officials have published selection guidance and criteria that set out how the colleges were chosen and how they are expected to operate. The DfE’s published guidance explains the hub‑and‑spoke model, minimum learner numbers, Ofsted and financial thresholds, and monitoring arrangements; it confirms that the cohort of technical excellence colleges is scheduled to open in the 2025–26 academic year and that applications for the competition closed in July 2025. The guidance also describes co‑design arrangements with employers and a performance framework intended to ensure progression into work. (Sources: DfE selection criteria publication)

Ministers and industry bodies say the colleges will sit alongside a stepped‑up national effort to grow the workforce. The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and other partners are working with the newly formed Construction Skills Mission Board, which met for the first time on 26 June 2025 to set a strategy aiming to recruit an additional 100,000 construction workers per year by the end of the Parliament. The DfE has also highlighted new partnerships between Jobcentres and employers to widen access to tailored work experience, placements and entry‑level roles ranging from trades to project management. The Government says these measures are intended to drive regional labour supply and link training directly to local sites. (Sources: CITB; government news on Jobcentre partnerships; DfE press materials)

The policy response has been prompted in part by official labour‑market data showing long‑running weaknesses in employer training. Department for Education statistics indicate that, while almost three‑fifths of employers reported providing some training across the economy, the construction sector is less likely than many others to offer or fund staff training — with Government survey figures cited showing a fall in the share of construction firms funding or offering training from 57% in 2011 to around 49% in 2024. The DfE and other departments point to this trend as underpinning the argument for concentrated investment in technical centres and employer‑facing interventions. (Sources: Employer Skills Survey; DfE announcements)

Industry and sector representatives broadly welcomed the choice of colleges but stressed that success will depend on sustained employer engagement and long‑term funding. “Very positive news for people wanting good jobs,” David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said in a statement, praising the investment and the role of local colleges in opening up “high quality learning opportunities”. Tim Balcon, chief executive of the CITB, said in a statement that the colleges represent a “transformative opportunity” to deliver local vocational training and nurture the next generation of skilled workers. At the same time, the Opposition urged caution: Shadow education minister Saqib Bhatti said in a statement that while investment in skills was welcome, broader economic and apprenticeship policy decisions undermined confidence and job security. (Sources: Irish News coverage; FE Week; DfE press release)

The Government’s announcement sets an ambitious timetable and a complex delivery challenge: building the training capacity is only one plank of a multi‑layered strategy that also relies on employer incentives, clear progression routes from bootcamps and apprenticeships, and effective local labour pipelines. Observers note that achieving the headline homebuilding and recruitment numbers will require not only the promised cash and facilities but sustained industry buy‑in and the longer‑term stability of funding and employer investment that the sector’s own bodies have said is necessary. The coming months will test whether the colleges, the Construction Skills Mission Board and linked Jobcentre and employer initiatives can convert policy pledges into the steady flow of trained tradespeople the Government says the housing programme needs. (Sources: FE Week; DfE guidance; CITB and government statements)

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Source: Noah Wire Services