27 April 2018

Battersea Academy of Skills Excellence Wins Award

From left to right: Jasmine Whitbread, Chief Executive at London First, Andre Burwood, BASE Programme Director, Sakina Abbaze, BASE Coordinator, Amanda Warren, BASE Caseload Manager, Derek Harris, Head of Public Relations at Barratt London.

Battersea Academy for Skills Excellence (BASE) has won the Skills London Award, one of the largest categories, at the seventh annual London First Awards. The award presented is for those who go above and beyond to inspire, develop and equip young Londoners with skills for the future.

The award was presented to Andre Burwood, BASE Programme Director, by Jasmine Whitbread, Chief Executive at London First on 19 April 2018 at One Marylebone London.

BASE is a bespoke service that works in partnership with existing local job programmes to match local people to some of the 17,000 long-term jobs that will be available by 2025 at Battersea Power Station. Positions range from entry level to senior management roles within a diversity of sectors including hospitality, security, concierge, estate management and specialist roles. A further 2,250 jobs will be available in construction across the development.

Since construction started at Battersea Power Station in 2013, 393 local residents have found jobs and apprenticeships on site which, include 257 jobs at the retailers and restaurants operating at Circus West Village, as well as jobs in construction.

BASE’s aim is to prepare and support local workers, enabling them to take advantage of the job opportunities created. In March BASE, the contractors and sub-contractors for Phases 2 and 3, took part in the Battersea Power Station Jobs Fair. The event was very successful and attended by over 150 local residents from Wandsworth and Lambeth.

The Battersea Power Station shareholders, Sime Darby Property, S P Setia and the Employees’ Provident Fund, are committed to extending the socio-economic benefits of the development into the site’s neighbouring communities. The BASE initiative was created to drive long-term access to the new job opportunities being created at Battersea Power Station, working in partnership with the London Borough of Wandsworth.

Andre Burwood, BASE Programme Director said: “We are absolutely delighted to take home this award, it is a fantastic honour for the entire team working on the BASE programme. We are more committed than ever to help as many local people as possible to gain employment and develop their skills with us.”

Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of London First, said: “London is a hugely successful global city, attracting talented people, investment and visitors from around the world. But we have to work hard to keep our capital the top of the global charts and delivering for the whole of the UK. These awards give us a chance to celebrate those with a vision for London’s future, helping to enrich our capital, creating growth and keeping London the best city in the world to do business.”

To read case studies of some of the local people who have found employment at Battersea Power Station please follow this link to Generating Opportunities, the annual report on local employment, training and business opportunities”

For media enquiries, please contact:

Battersea Academy of Skills Excellence
E: hello@baseskillsacademy.co.uk

Find BASE at:
Twitter: @ThisIsBASE #ThisIsBASE
Facebook: /BatterseaAcademyofSkillsExcellence or @BatterseaAcademyofSkillsExcellence

About Battersea Power Station

  • Battersea Power Station is one of central London’s largest, most visionary and eagerly anticipated new town centres in which roughly half the development will comprise shops, restaurants and office space. In addition, there will be a six-acre public park, a town square and a new tube station (scheduled to be within Zone 1).
  • The Battersea Power Station project covers 42 acres and includes 3.5m sq ft of mixed commercial space, together with 4,364 new homes.
  • The successful regeneration of Battersea Power Station will create 20,000 new jobs, inject £20bn into the UK economy and create a funding mechanism for the first major tube line extension since the Millennium. A new NHS medical facility is also being built.
  • The Battersea Power Station Foundation supports local charities and community projects. Over £3.3m has been awarded since it launched in 2016; on average, £207,000 is granted per month and the largest grant awarded was to Battersea Arts Centre for £305,000.
  • Circus West Village is the neighbourhood centre for the first part of the development. It opened to the public in Spring 2017 and since then over 700,000 people have visited to enjoy the ongoing programme of events and the new shops and restaurants.
  • Residents started to move in to Circus West early in 2017 and continue to do so. The Village Hall, a new performance space, has opened at Circus West Village and a new MBNA Thames Clippers River Bus service commenced on 1 November 2017.
  • The Battersea Academy of Skills Excellence (BASE), the development company’s bespoke jobs and training service created for those living locally, was launched in 2016.  It is focused on matching people with jobs at Battersea as well as providing training relevant to the job pipeline at the development.
  • Battersea Power Station is owned by a consortium of Malaysian investors comprised of Sime Darby Property, S P Setia and the Employees’ Provident Fund. Management of the development is being undertaken by the British-based Battersea Power Station Development Company.