Translink along with its Contractor GRAHAM has joined forces with Belfast City Council to organise Construction Employment Academies to deliver its Buy Social employment and training opportunities connected with the Belfast Transport Hub across Belfast.
Two drop-in information sessions have taken place in the Sandy Row and Grosvenor Road community centres, the two communities which will play host to the visionary new facility.
This £multi-million transport-led regeneration scheme, a Northern Ireland Executive Flagship project, will see the transformation of the 8-hectare city centre site, delivering a modern, high quality integrated transport hub to enhance local and international connectivity, with bus, coach and rail links across Northern Ireland and beyond. It will be a key driver of social, economic and environmental wellbeing for Belfast and Northern Ireland and will be at the heart of an exciting new city neighbourhood called ‘Weavers Cross’ with imaginative mixed-use development proposals. It is essential to delivering the ambitions of the draft Programme for Government and Belfast City Council’s Belfast Agenda.
The free information sessions are intended to raise awareness of the Buy Social opportunities and encourage local residents to participate in the Construction Employment Academies, covering training and providing readiness for vacancies within the Belfast Transport Hub. A range of information and opportunities from other sectoral Employment Academies were also on offer at the events.
Translink Belfast Transport Hub team will also be represented at upcoming Belfast City Council Employment Academies to be hosted at Crescent Arts Centre and the Skainos Centre on 21st January and at Conway Mill and Crumlin Road Gaol on 23rd January.
Duncan McAllister, Translink Senior Programme Manager for the Belfast Transport Hub, said:
‘‘The Belfast Transport Hub and subsequent Weavers Cross development will be a transformative project for Belfast and Northern Ireland, revolutionising public transport here. The project is deeply embedded in the local communities, and we’re delighted to be delivering on our commitment we made to local communities to ensure maximum benefit for everyone in the surrounding area.
‘‘The initial early engineering works, which will shortly get underway, will see up to 100 jobs generated across the local supply chain, with potential for up to 400 from the entire scheme. We are delighted to be able to partner with our contractor GRAHAM, an award winning deliverer of Buy Social and Belfast City Council through the Construction Employment Academies to help bring as many of those jobs as possible to local communities.
‘‘We have built up strong relationships across the community, as well as with political, business and city stakeholders; we will continue to engage with them in partnership with our contractor as we make progress over the coming months and years.
‘‘This is a very exciting project for Translink – the Belfast Transport Hub will open a new chapter for transport options in the city and across Northern Ireland, helping to drive a modal shift and an ongoing increase in passenger numbers. With increased capacity for bus, coach and rail services and providing an unrivalled gateway to Belfast, the project is key to delivering our ambitious plans to make public transport everyone’s ‘first choice for travel.’’
Andrew Henry, Contracts Manager of the GRAHAM Civil Engineering division, said: “It was a pleasure to take part in the drop-in information sessions at the Sandy Row and Grosvenor Road community centres to help raise awareness of the Construction Employment Academies, which will present exciting opportunities to the local community within the new Belfast Transport Hub.
“Here at GRAHAM, we believe in working closely with communities and business organisations to actively foster local involvement and enterprise in the communities we work in.
“The Buy Social initiative is a fantastic scheme that strengthens links between employers and local communities and is one we are very proud to be continuing to be involved in.”
For additional detail on all Employment Academies that are available please visit www.belfastcity.gov.uk/employment
