09 Dec 1999
Scotland Office Minister Brian Wilson today paid tribute to the work of the Overgate Recruitment Centre, which has found work for 1000 people during the construction phase of Dundee’s Overgate Shopping Centre.
Officially opening the Overgate Recruitment Centre’s new premises, Mr Wilson presented a certificate to the 1000thperson to find work through the Centre. Mr Wilson said:
"The Employment Service (ES) and other organisations have worked together to establish a new recruitment centre in Dundee. This partnership has already found jobs for over 1000 people during the reconstruction phase of the Overgate Shopping Centre, 68 per cent of whom were local people. This is good news for Dundee. The challenge now is to fill up to 1000 jobs that will become available when the refurbished shopping centre opens next year.
"The new Retail Recruitment Centre will find staff for big name employers such as Debenhams. The work carried out by the ES, in conjunction with private and public sector partners, ensures that the Overgate refurbishment fully benefits local people and the local economy as a whole.
"The ES in Tayside is delivering across the board for local jobseekers, finding work for around 10,000 people since April. Tayside is also blazing a trail in the UK Government’s New Deal, and has now placed 1000 young people into jobs. The hard work of the ES in delivering our New Deal has helped us to see long term youth unemployment in Scotland halved over the last year."
1. The redevelopment of the Overgate Shopping Centre began on 22 April 1998 and is due to be completed on 22 March 2000.
2. The Employment Service and Lend Lease Projects Ltd, responsible for redeveloping the Overgate Centre, have worked together since January 1998 to establish Recruitment Centres connected with the site.
3. The Construction Recruitment Centre matched construction staff, drivers and tradespeople with vacancies at the Overgate construction site. Based in a portakabin, it was removed from the site last month to allow the completion of the Shopping Centre’s construction.
3. The new Retail Recruitment Centre in City House uses a database to match clients in the retail and catering sectors with job vacancies for the Overgate Shopping Centre. Debenhams, the 'anchor' store within the Overgate, is the first company to use the Recruitment Centre.