Skills and training

London 2012 has created a huge number of opportunities for Londoners across a wide range of industry sectors. As well as creating jobs for Londoners, the Games are also delivering new skills to Londoners.

Olympic National Skills Academy for Construction

The Olympic National Skills Academy for Construction was established to meet the construction training needs for the development of the Olympic Park. Construction training centres have been created to fill gaps in provision in much needed trades such as scaffolding, plant mechanics and dry-lining. These centres have the capacity to deliver thousands of training places each year to support the redevelopment of the Olympic Park after the Games and other major infrastructure projects in the Thames Gateway.

For more information please visit: www.cskills.org/supportbusiness/courses/findcampus/london.aspx

Welcoming the World to London

The success of the London Games will not only be measured by inspirational sporting action and endeavours but also by how we, as the host city, reach out to welcome visitors. We recognise the critical role that staff in a number of sectors play in welcoming visitors to the capital and we want to ensure that we can all play our part in hosting visitors at Games time.

The Mayor of London's team offers two free online tools to help you and your staff Get Games Ready:

• Welcome to London provides an overview of the Games, the festivities planned across the city and top hosting tips to help visitor-facing staff answer questions about the Games in London.
• Destination London is an interactive learning unit about the needs of disabled visitors and others with access needs, so staff can provide a first-rate customer service.

Useful information

VisitBritain provide a free resource designed to help UK tourism and hospitality businesses to connect with opportunities around the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This includes practical information on the Games, advice on how you can benefit and resources to help you play your part in welcoming the world to the UK.

People 1st, the sector skills council for hospitality, passenger transport, travel and tourism, have adapted a world-class customer service programme that was developed in Canada to train 40,000 volunteers and tourism staff at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.  This includes a range of one-day or half-day training courses including 'Principles of Hosting 2012' as well as a business recognition scheme.