Military Multi-Award-Winning Charity Building Heroes Opens A New Academy in partnership with Regal London at the Wembley site

Building Heroes, together with Regal London and training delivery partner Capital City College Group (CCCG), celebrated the opening of the second Regal London Real Estate Academy in Wembley on Friday, February 10th, following the success of the first programme.

Held at Regal London’s new Fulton & Fifth development site, Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council, was delighted to present the first cohort of learners with their Graduation Certificates following the completion of the five-week Building Heroes programme.

The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London (CONEL), part of CCCG, provides onsite training for the programme. Learners study for a Construction Skills Level 1 Diploma and a Health and Safety Level 1 Award, along with training to gain a CSCS card to enable them to work on building sites.

Established in 2014, Building Heroes is the UK’s leading award-winning military charity dedicated to supporting service leavers, veterans, reservists and military families with training and employment support to provide access to a new career in construction.

The Academies at Regal London’s Fulton & Fifth site in Wembley and The Clarendon in Watford provide a supportive environment for learners to experience the construction industry first-hand, ultimately providing invaluable professional and personal skills. The programme has been such a success that many of the Wembley Academy cohorts plan to progress into construction-based careers.

In addition to the Wembley Academy, Building Heroes, Regal London, and CCCG run the Watford Academy, which opened in April 2022. Building Heroes was proud to open this ground-breaking facility in the same month as being recognised for providing social mobility programmes that help people transition into successful working lives, receiving the Queen’s Award for Enterprise – Promoting Opportunity.

Since opening, the Watford Academy has reskilled five cohorts and celebrated their successful graduations. Simon Hewitt joined the September 2022 cohort, a veteran who served six years within Rifles and twelve years as a Reservist.

He commented: “Despite retiring from full-time employment a few years ago, I found myself feeling quite isolated and decided I would like to access a new industry. The Building Heroes Academy in Watford presented a perfect fit and enabled me to gain new skills and access the vast employment opportunities linked to the programme. Following the graduation event, Regal London offered me the chance to work within their team as a logistics manager, overseeing several responsibilities of some of the sub-contractors. In addition, Regal are supporting me with further training courses including fire marshal, site supervision and health and safety.”

The Wembley Academy hosts cohorts of 10 learners from military backgrounds and other underrepresented groups. The Academy looks forward to the next cohort commencing this month’s end.

Jonathan Seal, CEO Regal London, “Our work creating the Regal London Real Estate Academies with Building Heroes is really important to us, and we’re deeply committed to continuing to support the incredible work it does with those from the armed forces and wider groups of local people. To be able to share our skills and knowledge is a great privilege, and we look forward to continuing our relationship in Wembley and Watford, supporting new entrants into our exciting industry.”

Karen Jefford, Building Heroes CEO, said: ‘In celebrating this opening event with our partners, we couldn’t be prouder of how this new training academy will benefit and support the career transitions for learners from our military community and other local underrepresented groups.

“Building Heroes currently has the capacity to provide training programmes for up to 1000 learners per year across England, delivering up to £30 million of Social Value, and we are excited to look forward to opening two further academies in the next two months, with more to follow throughout 2023.

Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of LB Brent, comments: “The partnership between Regal London and Building heroes for the Wembley Real Estate Academy, is a testament to the power of communities coming together to share skills and knowledge. The education the learners have received has been invaluable and having met the learners on site at Regals’ Fulton and Fifth, it was clear what a positive difference their new qualifications and skills will make to their employment prospects. I’m looking forward to hearing how the learners progress thanks to their training and watching Fulton and Fifth flourish into a desirable location for new homes and green space.”