The regeneration of Temple Quarter is one of the UK’s most ambitious city centre projects—creating thousands of new homes, jobs, and opportunities for Bristol.
To make the most of this transformation, we need a skilled, confident, and diverse workforce ready to shape the city’s future.
At the heart of our Inclusive and Sustainable Growth Strategy is ensuring that the opportunities created by regeneration are accessible to everyone. This means we need to create real opportunities for residents to access skills, training and employment.
The UK construction industry needs to recruit over 47,000 workers every year to meet demand, totalling 239,300 new roles by 2029, according to CITB’s latest Workforce Outlook.
With growth forecast across all regions, the sector faces a major challenge. Bristol Temple Quarter is a chance for local people to help to plug these skills gaps by training the next generation.
That’s why, at Temple Quarter, we’re proud to be developing a range of impactful programmes and initiatives that are already making a difference.
One of our early successes is the Restoring Futures programme, created for 16–18-year-olds not currently in education, employment, or training (NEET) and piloted at Bristol Temple Quarter. Delivered in partnership with Bristol City Council’s Post-16 Team and The Restore Trust, the programme takes a fresh, holistic approach—covering employability skills, conflict resolution, health and safety, personal wellbeing, work readiness, and employer engagement, alongside the essential CSCS card qualification.
We’re incredibly grateful to the brilliant contractors working across Temple Quarter, whose generous support has brought the programme to life through site visits, employer talks, and valuable work experience placements.
Another key strand of our growing skills offer is the regular adult CSCS training programme, delivered with the DWP and Partners in Bristol. These courses provide vital certification for people entering or re-entering the construction industry.
Our most recent course, held at the Temple Quarter Hub, was a great success—with strong attendance, a high pass rate, and 40% of participants moving straight into employment.
A special thank you to GMI Construction for hosting a fantastic site tour on Avon Street and delivering an insightful employer talk, giving participants a real glimpse of life on site and what employers are looking for.
Alongside our on-site training, we’re also committed to outreach, especially in schools and education settings. We regularly share opportunities with employers to get involved in education, highlighting where support is needed for careers events, curriculum-linked activities, workshops and employer talks. For more information, or to be added to the distribution list email buildingbristol@bristol.gov.uk.
If we want young people to consider construction as a career, we need to help them, their parents and teachers understand the sector and the amazing opportunities it offers.
Employers have the most important role to play in this, and if the industry is serious about solving the skills shortage, it must invest in building strong relationships with educators and schools. These interactions can open eyes, spark curiosity, and genuinely inspire students to see construction as a dynamic, rewarding career path.
Together, these initiatives are building a skilled, confident, and diverse workforce ready to contribute to the exciting developments taking place at Temple Quarter and across the city.
Looking ahead, we’re planning a broader and more inclusive skills offer – one that goes beyond construction and supports people into a wide range of end-user jobs across the Temple Quarter regeneration. We’re excited about what’s to come and look forward to working with partners across the city to make it happen.
If you’d like to support school activities, share ideas for workshops, or help deliver our skills initiatives, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact the team at Building Bristol.
This blog has been written by Donna Woodland, Building Bristol Coordinator.
