4,000 on London Olympics site
Thursday, 30 April 2009
The latest Olympic Park workforce figures were published by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) today, showing that the Olympic Park workforce is now over 4,000 strong.

Nearly one in ten of the workforce were previously unemployed and nearly one in ten is a trainee, apprentice or on a work placement. 

A fifth of the workforce is resident in the local area and over half live in London.

Commenting on the job figures ODA Chief Executive David Higgins said: 'It was encouraging that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) gave us a good report last week. Achievements to date are tribute to hard work of the thousands of site workers who have worked on the Park.

'Numbers are ramping up sharply across the site and there is not a trace of complacency across the project about the challenges ahead.

'We are hitting our milestones and have put in place strong foundations but there is a big challenge ahead.'

The latest figures show that of the 4,101 strong Olympic Park workforce:

*Approximately one in five (20 per cent) are resident in the five Host Boroughs – Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest – and over half live in London (53 per cent);
*Nearly one in ten (9 per cent) was previously unemployed;
*Nearly one in ten (9 per cent) are doing a traineeship, apprenticeship or work placement.

The Olympic Park workforce figures were announced as a new centre for the National Skills Academy for Construction (NSAfC) was launched. 

The National Construction College east London campus at Thames House in Newham will provide thousands of training opportunities. The new centre will help Londoners develop the right skills to continue to help deliver the venues and infrastructure for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and other large-scale projects taking place across the region, such as Stratford City and Crossrail.