A new employment strategy for Meridian Water will see local residents being able to access high quality well paid jobs as well as providing a major boost to the borough’s economy.
Enfield Council’s cabinet agreed on Tuesday night (11 March) to adopt The Meridian Water Employment Strategy creating 6,000 permanent high quality jobs for local people at its flagship £6bn Meridian Water development, which will also provide 10,000 homes and create 8.2 hectares of parkland in the Lea Valley.
Work will start soon to provide workspace for business start-ups at Meridian Water Two which will provide 10,000 square metres of workspace owned by the local authority which will stimulate the local economy and create jobs and opportunities for local people.
The jobs created by the Meridian Water Employment Strategy will pay the London Living Wage or better.
Enfield Council Leader, Cllr Nesil Caliskan, said: “We have been clear from the very start that Meridian Water needs to benefit local people first and foremost and that applies both to the housing we will build and the jobs we will create.
“We want to create a mix of employment on the site by generating high quality, well paid jobs which are accessible for our residents and which will transform the local jobs market and benefit the wider London economy.
"Meridian Water is an aspirational project which will transform the lives of thousands of local people for the better through providing secure, well paid employment.
“This development presents us with an unparalleled opportunity to reshape the borough’s economy and drive prosperity to the communities in and around Meridian Water – which contains some of the country’s most deprived wards.”
A further 1,000 jobs will be created through temporary uses of areas awaiting redevelopment.
The project will also require 1,000 construction workers on site each year over the 25 years it will take for the Meridian Water project to be built. A quarter of these workers will be local people.
A new Construction Skills Academy will be built later this year, to train local people, provide on-site work experience, and host visits from local schools and colleges with a target of no less than 25% of all construction jobs going to local people.
The strategy will also help the Council tackle deprivation and the low wage economy that is prevalent in the wards around Meridian Water.
One in ten people employed on Meridian One will be construction apprentices, learning skilled trades from a combination of on the job experience and day release for college study.
Developers and new Business Tenants will be asked to sign a “Local Employment and Skills Charter” setting out how they will work with the council to create high quality jobs and training opportunities for local people.
The strategy will also help local companies bid for contracts with the developers and contractors chosen to build Enfield Council’s £6bn Meridian Water project.
The strategy aims to change the type of jobs available around Meridian Water and encourage a wider move away from traditional low paid industrial roles, it will aim to attract higher paid sectors with a broader employment offer to the area.
The Council predicts the development, with its superb transport links, infrastructure and parkland setting will be a destination of choice for companies operating sectors such as digital and media, pharmaceuticals, high quality engineering, ecommerce, and creative industries such as Building BLOQ’s, who are already on the site and increasing their membership.