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Ben Burke |
Forget Sir Alan... here are the real Apprentice stars
New centre in King’s Cross will give skills training to 150 a year
THERE was no mocked up TV boardroom, no squabbling and no egotistical contestants desperately greasing up to millionaire tycoon Sir Alan Sugar.
Instead, the real-life “Apprentices” were at King’s Cross on Monday to celebrate the official opening of a building skills centre which will train up to 150 people every year.
While recriminations rumble on over who should pay for the facility, Skills Minister Lord Young, himself a former apprentice, cut the ribbon on the King’s Cross Construction Skills Centre in York Way.
The centre was built by developers Argent as planning gain for the transformation of the 63-acre railwaylands.
Although the building, designed by Clerkenwell-based architect David Morley is temporary, the dignitaries at its opening stressed its role as a lifeline as the building trade and the job market slump.
The council’s deputy leader, Councillor Andrew Marshall, said: “Our relationship with Argent and its partners is a strategic relationship, and one we’re determined to get right.
“This centre is part of our response to the recession.”
Highgate apprentice Ben Burke, 17, fresh from recent work experience on the Olympic site, said the scheme allowed him to follow in the footsteps of his carpenter father.
“I took after him and it started from there,” he said. “I started in September and if I can carry on getting work on sites I could be a fully qualified carpenter by Christmas.”
But after a week of criticism about who pays for the centre, Richard Barnes, London deputy mayor, used his speech to defend the London Development Agency (LDA) decision not to renew funding to job creation schemes in the King’s Cross area.
It is the council that is making up the shortfall.
Mr Barnes said: “This is a practical example of the LDA providing significant pump-priming. The LDA is not a long-term support mechanism.”
Later, he said the decision by Camden Council to commit £3.6million of funding to continue the projects showed the value of what the LDA had already funded. |
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