The Fleet Street Quarter BID, in partnership with Atenor, the pan-European real estate development company, has unveiled meanwhile activation The Fleot, a first of its kind 360-degree green and digital construction skills hub and creative studio for local artists.
Supporting Londoners across all career stages, The Fleot, will house the Green Skills Hub. Delivered by Community Coworking and a consortium of partner organisations, the Green Skills Hub will provide an unprecedented 500+ hours of accredited, free learning focused on green and digital construction skills.
Located in Atenor’s Fleet House building along New Bridge Street, the hub will also house Fleet. Studios, a 6,000 sq ft ground and first floor space offering accessible art, podcast and music studio space for creatives, alongside a public art gallery. Helping boost another key economic driver, Fleet. Studios aims to address the need for arts and culture spaces in the City of London. Fleet. Studios will be run and managed by Spark* – a community interest company with expertise in creative industries.
The Green Skills Hub courses, which have been designed to meet the evolving demands in the sector, will focus on retrofit, renewables and digital technologies to address current skills shortages in the industry.
As global cities plan for a net-zero future, the Green Skills Hub will drive opportunities for sustainable building in urban centres. UN Environment Programme data estimates that the building and construction sector accounts for 37% of global emissions. Recent forecasts also suggest 50,000 retrofit coordinators could be required by 2030, with only 3,000 currently existing.2
Catering to various skill levels and professional development needs, courses have been designed to engage learners from a wide range of ages, backgrounds and experiences. Where possible, learners will be placed with job opportunities, with on-site and off-site career & education pathways into the sector showcased by industry partners at the Green Skills Hub.
Temporarily transforming three floors, comprising almost 12,000 sq ft at the Fleet House redevelopment scheme, the hub and studios are a meanwhile use activation of an otherwise vacant space that will drive social value in the City of London, and particularly the Fleet Street Quarter area.
FLEET. STUDIOS IN DETAIL
The ground floor will showcase a free public art gallery, featuring a selection of changing creative work from artists, writers, poets and more through the lifetime of the activation. The studios will also include specialist art, podcast and music studios with capacity for over 40 creatives on the first floor and mezzanine. 30% of studio spaces will be free for up-and-coming artists, with Fleet. Studios highlighting another meanwhile use that aims to create social value in an otherwise vacant space.
Fleet. Studios is another example of how the Fleet Street Quarter BID is maximising opportunities in urban commercial centres. Responding to the need to reinvent business districts, Fleet. Studios will bring new audiences and talent to the area. The arts are a major economic driver to London, Fleet. Studios will drive this growth and meet the need to grow opportunities for culture in the City of London.
GREEN SKILLS HUB: A PROGRAMME OF ACCREDITED FREE COURSES IN THE FLEOT
Supported by the Association of Colleges, the Green Skills Hub is partnering with training providers to deliver accredited teaching programmes to drive sustainable job opportunities, upskill the existing workforce and build the talent pipeline. Partner programmes will be delivered by University College of Estate Management, Class of Your Own, Cadventure, GetZero, Crystal Associates, Fixed, Gement, and Reputy. Courses will range in length from 6 to 240 guided learning hours.
Courses available will encompass a range of learners:
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Adult, career transferers and industry learners – providing reskilling, upskilling and into work opportunities e.g. City and Guilds Level 3 Retrofit ADVISOR courses provided by Phil Parle, site-ready training by Gement and job brokerage by Fixed Construction.
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Higher Education and Further Education Apprenticeships – education and apprenticeship pathways provided by Newham College, the London City Institute of Technology, University College of Estates Management and the Association of College.
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School age – through community engagement with disadvantaged London schools.
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Community – events and a visitor site will be open to the local community and stakeholders, also providing accessible coworking.
Delivering a mix of theory and practical activities designed to the London Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP), courses will use the building itself as a live retrofit case study. Courses will evolve through a full cycle of learning, practising and constructing in the same space, with learners able to implement skills and ideas from workshops. Programmes will also blend on demand and live courses, with the London City Institute of Technology streaming immersive workshops and virtual classes into the Green Skills Hub.
Offering a 360-degree approach to learning, courses for wellbeing will be offered alongside practical support for new entrants to the industry. This will include support for international workers to provide knowledge and training to permit access onto UK sites.
Bringing together the Fleet Street Quarter community, industry partners and local stakeholders are supporting the Green Skills Hub by providing industry talks, mentorship, work placement and job opportunities. Industry partners involved range from SMEs and retrofit specialists up to multinational organisations.
THE LOCATION
Fleet House will be transformed by Atenor as part of a major deep retrofit development preserving 73% of the existing structure and which, on completion will deliver a best-in-class workspace destination which provides exemplar sustainability credentials, including BREEAM Outstanding and WELL Platinum certification. Atenor is an active member of the Fleet Street Quarter BID, and its renewal of Fleet House will form part of a programme of investment for the area which includes 34 schemes, worth £5bn GDV and is supported by an £80m public realm vision.
Along with Atenor, local stakeholders have also been central to bringing the space together. Desks, furniture, screens and whiteboards have been donated by the local community, underlining how the Green Skills Hub is supporting a circular economy.
Lady Lucy French, OBE, CEO of the Fleet Street Quarter BID comments: “The launch of The Fleot, Green Skills Hub and Fleet. Studios are a landmark moment for the Fleet Street Quarter area that demonstrates the power of collaboration in our community. Our area is undergoing a radical transformation and the Hub underlines how we are building for a greener future, by bringing together private and public sectors. The Fleet Street Quarter is addressing how urban commercial centres can maximise opportunity and reinvent themselves, responding proactively to the climate challenges we are all facing, whilst recognising the need for arts in a historically business centred environment.
Working with Atenor and a myriad of local stakeholders has been instrumental in the making of this project, many of our levy paying members are offering careers advice, talks, work or job opportunities through the Green Skills Hub. By working together, the Green Skills Hub exemplifies our approach to creating a connected community that progresses our area’s rich talent-pool.”
Eoin Conroy, Atenor’s UK Country Director adds: “Atenor prides itself on our ability to positively invest and contribute towards all the local communities in which we work. Collaborating closely with the Fleet Street Quarter BID, Community Coworking and SPARK*, we are delighted to be able to launch an initiative which echoes our core values of sustainability, creativity, learning and community; values which we look forward to continue championing throughout our investment in the City of London and the completed regeneration of Fleet House.”
Jo Tasker, Co-Founder of Community Coworking: “Building green and digital skills in our existing and future workforce is hyper critical as the construction sector embraces a greener and digitally driven future. Designed to the LSIP, the hub as both an academy and construction site, will support the engagement and development of all age learners in the skills needed to support an industry in flux – and drive productivity and social value from the bottom up.”
Tom McKenzie, Co-founder and Managing Director, Spark*: “Fleet. Studios exemplifies how collaboration can drive opportunity. By providing studio space for marginalised artists, musicians and podcasters, the space will be a dynamic and innovative showcase of what’s possible when creatives join forces in urban centres.”
Phil Parle, Project Delivery Lead, Association of Colleges: “With skills shortages in construction worsening across the country and the need for green skills rapidly increasing, it has never been so important to ensure that local people have local access to education and training that supports them to retrain and upskill.
The Fleot Green Skills Hub is a brilliant example of what happens when learning and training providers, businesses and local stakeholders come together to offer a community exactly what it needs to fill those gaps.”
