New leisure developments create 1,300 jobs for Greater Birmingham
TWO major new leisure attractions within Greater Birmingham have stepped up their attempts to recruit 1,300 staff.
Mixed-use shopping and dining destination Grand Central Birmingham opens in September as part of the £600m New Street Gateway development. It is set to create 1,000 new jobs.
Construction has begun on the final phase of the scheme and so training providers are now prepping candidates ready to work in the new centre.
Meanwhile at the NEC, the brand new £150m Resort World Birmingham hotel and casino has launched a recruitment drive to find 300 people.
The 1,300 jobs go some way towards explaining why the West Midlands is currently the UK’s employment hotspot. Latest unemployment figures for the region show a fall of 32,000 during the October to December 2014 quarter – the biggest fall in the country.
The performance is due to schemes such as these and expansion by the likes of major manufacturers such as Jaguar Land Rover.
Responsibility for ensuring the jobs can be filled at Grand Central rests with the Birmingham Growth Alliance Partnership, a body established to capitalise on job opportunities both at the new complex and within the wider city centre.
Partners in the venture are: John Lewis, Birmingham City Council, Network Rail, Retail Birmingham, Department for Work and Pensions, Skills Funding Agency and National Apprenticeship Service.
Shilpi Akbar, BGAP co-chair and Assistant Director for Employment, Birmingham City Council said; “With over 1,000 jobs being created at Grand Central, this partnership is committed to reflect Birmingham’s diverse community and showcase the skills of Birmingham’s jobseekers. Our work to date has been to develop and co-ordinate high quality training across the city in the customer service, retail and hospitality sectors to ensure unemployed people have access to the range of job opportunities which will arise from Grand Central.”
Grand Central Birmingham will be anchored by a 250,000 sq ft John Lewis store, one of the retailer’s biggest outside of London, which will be providing over half of the 1,000 opportunities available.
Richard Brown, Grand Central Development Director said: “Grand Central is committed to providing local jobs for local people. We want to ensure that the opportunities created by the new development are accessible to all and benefit Birmingham.
“The investment John Lewis has made to Birmingham further supports the growth of the city and maximises the opportunities available for local people to work for a leading premium retail brand.”
Lisa Williams, Head of Branch, John Lewis Birmingham added: “We have been working alongside the BGAP for almost two years to develop a pre-employment training package dedicated to ensuring the jobs created by our new shop are accessible to the local community. Our aim as an employer is to reflect the community in which we trade and we’re really excited to welcome new partners to the John Lewis Birmingham team in the coming months.”
Many local people, including a number of apprentices have already been involved in the construction of Grand Central and New Street Station supporting one of the city’s leading priorities -the creation of training, development and employment opportunities for the people of Birmingham.
To support the recruitment drive, the Grand Central Jobs Roadshow is going live this February, with community events across Birmingham promoting employment and training opportunities. Events are taking place in all 14 Jobcentres across the city, as well as at community venues and city centre venues, supported by the Department for Work and Pensions and the National Careers Service.
John Lewis said while it had already begun recruitment for some specialist roles, the majority of jobs would not be advertised until May.
The Resorts World Birmingham complex is set to open this summer. It claims it is set to change the landscape of the leisure marketplace in the UK as it brings together hospitality, retail, entertainment and gaming and all under one roof.
When it opens later in the year it is anticipated that the complex will create 1,100 full time equivalent jobs, making the complex one of the largest employers in Solihull.
Part of the offer at Resorts World Birmingham will be the Genting International Casino and to support its opening it is looking to recruit 300 people.
Over the past six months Genting Casinos has undertaken a series of gaming academies to train applicants who will form part of the gaming staff on the floor. A range of other jobs are now being recruited for including; cashiers, poker dealers, other related gaming staff and gaming management roles.
Further details will be available at a recruitment fair being held at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Holloway Circus, Birmingham on February 25. Presentations will take place at 6pm, 8pm and 10pm.
