A major milestone has been reached on London's newest £100million college as the nine-story building reached its full height, 12 months after construction started in March 2021 on the first of the college's three new buildings in Nine Elms.

London South Bank Technical College will give 4000 students the chance to learn the latest STEM skills including science, technology, engineering, arts and maths, in hi-tech classrooms and workshops, rising to 6000 students by 2026.

Thousands of London South Bank Technical College students will play an important role in filling the UK’s huge science, technology, engineering and maths skills shortages:

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• 40% of UK employers reported a shortage of science, technology, engineering and maths graduates as a key barrier in recruiting staff, in a CBI survey (2015)

• Over 50% of engineering design firms said they were experiencing skills shortages, in an Engineering Design Show survey (2021)

• £2 billion a year is the cost of data-driven skills shortages for the UK economy, according to a NESTA survey (2018)

• 69% of business leaders said they had a digital skills gap, in a Microsoft survey (2020). There is a 9% annual increase in demand for cyber security professionals and a shortfall of over 10,000 people a year for cyber security jobs, a government report reported (2021).

South Bank Colleges which is made up of Lambeth College and London South Bank Technical College will see a 55% increase in student numbers from 6700 to 10,000 students, between 2022 to 2026. 46 courses will be taught at the new college.

Rob Joyce, Regional Director at GRAHAM: "While there's still a lot of work to do, we’re excited to see this state-of-the-art project come to life. It’s a privilege for us to play such an important role in delivering educational projects like these, which are always built with a legacy in mind as we strive to create the most supportive learning environments for the academic community."