Girls are being encouraged to build the foundations of a construction career after the launch of a second skills academy in Kent.

The National Skills Academy for Construction at Northfleet School for Girls follows the first at the Stanhope regeneration project in Ashford some 18 months ago.

Both academies aim to encourage more young people to consider construction as a career, as well as re-training older workers hoping to move into the industry.

Despite the downturn, which has seen thousands of construction workers laid off, especially in residential housing, there will be massive demand for these skills in the coming years.

Construction projects in the Thames Gateway, Ashford as well as those related to Building Schools for the Future (BSF) and the London Olympics will all need a lot of people.

Without a new generation of skilled people, shortages look inevitable as older workers retire and migrant labour dries up as the falling pound persuades many East Europeans to return home.

Christina Montague, regional strategy adviser for ConstructionSkills South East, said training was more important than ever so that employers were ready to take advantage of the upturn whenever it came.

She said: "The sheer scale and potential of this programme is immense. BSF will follow an approach of up-skilling and accediting the existing skills of the workforce, as well as providing opportunities for work experience and apprenticeships."

Northfleet School is among 10 secondary schools being transformed in the £600m first phase of the BSF programme.

Four Kent-based firms - Provian Construction, Willmott Dixon, Kier and Verry Construction - have signed up to the academy, promising apprenticeships, work experience and other training opportunities.

Julie Wilson, head of Northfleet School, welcomed the scheme as an encouragement for more girls to consider construction as a career.

She said that only 10,000 women were involved in construction and engineering courses compared to 166,000 men. It was almost the reverse in social and public sector work.

"We believe we should be breaking barriers with our students, and in launching the skills academy in a girls' school begins to challenge a few of these assumptions, and we are pleased this should be the case," she said.

"Our vision of the school has always been to challenge girls to achieve the highest ambition they can. Clearly, access to the skills academy is going to open up these possibilities for them."

Jonathan Payne, deputy managing director of Willmott Dixon, based in Dartford, welcomed the project, saying the firm engaged with the pupils, took on apprentices and worked hard to encourage girls into the industry.

Roger Maycock, managing director of Provian Construction, said: "We employ quite a lot of girls and it is very important as far as our organisation is concerned to have a reasonable balance between male and female."