London 2012 will create thousands of jobs in construction.

Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell has opened a Plant Training Centre this week on the Olympics Park to help boost numbers of construction workers for London 2012.

At the official opening of the new centre, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) also launched its strategy for employment and skills during the construction of the Olympic Park – ‘London 2012 Jobs’.

The report sets out how the ODA will work with a range of public and private sector partners to help its contractors recruit the 9,000-10,000 construction workers that will be needed at peak in 2009/2010. At the same time, the initiative will help people develop sustainable skills and a long-term career path after the Games.

The new Plant Training Centre will deliver practical training, tailored to the Olympic Park project, on equipment such as dumpers, telescopic handlers and excavators.

The figures show that over one in ten of the current Olympic Park workforce was previously unemployed before finding work helping to deliver the Games, and over a third of these workers live locally. In total, local residents make up a fifth of the current workforce of 2,275.

Tessa Jowell said: “Everyone understands the physical legacy from hosting the Games in 2012 – new sports facilities, a new urban park and new homes. But just as important is the legacy for thousands of people who will acquire skills enabling them to get jobs in the Olympic park and then work for the rest of their lives. The ODA’s Employment and Skills Strategy sets out a clear approach to achieve these objectives.”

As previously announced by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the Olympic Park site will become part of a multi-million pound National Skills Academy for Construction, funded by ConstructionSkills, the Learning and Skills Council and the London Development Agency. It will coordinate training across a range of providers for people to get the skills needed to win work on the Olympic Park and continue their career development once in work.