Power of Partnership: Local London Celebrates the Mayor’s Green Skills Academy

27 February 2026

The Mayor’s Green Skills Academy for Local London marked a significant milestone this week as partners from across education, local government, and industry gathered at London South East Colleges’ (LSEC) Orpington Campus to celebrate four years of collaborative partnership. The event was bittersweet, highlighting successes and learnings while gearing up for the programme to wrap, concluding 31 March. The Power of Partnership event brought together stakeholders from the Mayor of London’s Office, the Greater London Authority, Local London, and partner education providers, to recognise the achievements of a project that has shaped green skills provision across nine boroughs.

The afternoon began with a warm welcome from Asfa Sohail, Deputy CEO and Principal of LSEC, who presented the Academy’s headline successes since 2022 and showcased the green training facilities and events delivered across the partnership. Guests were then shown a highlights video which captured the Academy’s story in action, from immersive heat‑pump workshops to employer collaborations.

As an ode to the Mayor’s Green Skills Academy, a short film titled Power of Partnerships was shared with the audience. This video offered a deeper lens for partners and guests to understand the impact and scale of the programme, including hearing directly from learners, employers, and educators involved in the project.

Forogh Rahmani, Director of Local London, reflected on how boroughs, educators and employers had worked together to build accessible pathways into the green economy and ensure communities benefit from emerging green opportunities. Laura Dubeck, Head of Sector Workforce at the GLA, followed with an overview of upcoming initiatives.

A hands‑on workshop led by Chris Burr, Group Director of Partnerships and Strategic Projects at LSEC, invited attendees to explore the future of green skills provision, evaluating current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Their shared reflections highlighted not only the achievements to date but the shared ambition that will continue to drive progress beyond March 2026, even as the programme closes. The celebration demonstrated how shared purpose and cross‑sector collaboration can transform communities and build a more sustainable London.

Chris reflects on the partnership below:

“This programme has shown what’s possible when education providers, local authorities and industry work collectively towards a shared objective. Over the past four years, our partnership has opened doors for thousands of Londoners to gain the green skills our city needs. We’ve moved from a position of competition amongst providers to one of cooperation and coordination, which has resulted in better outcomes for Londoners. The momentum we’ve built together is extraordinary; we need to keep building upon it. It gives me real confidence that we can continue shaping a greener, fairer London for the future.”

We want to give a big thank you to each of our nine partner educational providers: Barking & Dagenham College, Barnet & Southgate College, Capel Manor College, London South East Colleges, New City College, Newham College, Shooter’s Hill Sixth Form College, Waltham Forest College, and our one university partner, University of East London.