The Mayor of London Boris Johnson has confirmed a £65 million injection in the capital’s colleges and further education facilities to ensure Londoners are best placed to compete for jobs in the city.

It follows a funding pot of £55m last year in a host of new campuses technology hubs and workshops – taking the total investment available for 22 colleges in London to £120m.

The £65m has been agreed for seven of those projects to be delivered over the next four years as part of the London Enterprise Panel’s Further Education Capital Investment Fund, launched by the Mayor following a successful bid for Growth Deal funding from Government in January last year. The majority of the fund has been allocated, with a small amount to be allocated for projects later in the year.

In this latest round of confirmed funding, a £22.5m grant has been approved for Lambeth College to create a new campus, training hotel, homes, new jobs and construction skills centre at the heart of the Vauxhall Nine Elms regeneration area.

The Ada National College of Digital Skills will also receive £18m to complete a move to Tottenham Hale in September this year. The project, which continues a major regeneration push led by the Mayor and Haringey Council, will create a new state of the art college building to support its students into highly skilled digital jobs with higher level apprenticeships.

The funding programme is designed to upgrade and modernise London’s colleges and further education services to ensure they are fit for purpose and put students in pole position for the 860,000 new jobs to be delivered in the capital over the next 20 years.

Work on the Ada National Digital Skills Centre will now begin apace with in a temporary hub being created while the new state of the art building is being built, which is expected to open by September 2018.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson MP, said:

“As a global city attracting the very best talent, it’s only right Londoners have world-class facilities to ensure they are prepared to compete for the thousands of new jobs being created in business, tech, media and construction. I am pleased to be able to support our colleges as they prepare the next generation who will further London’s position as the best big city in the world.”