Sizewell C and Lowestoft MP sign jobs pledge for town

• Sizewell C pledges 500 jobs for Lowestoft in new agreement with Jess Asato MP
• Pledge follows recent opening of Nucleus Employability Hub
• Wider commitment to the town includes investment of £250,000 in partnerships with Access Community Trust and East Coast College
• Jess Asato MP hails “clear pathway to high-skilled, high-paid careers in the clean energy sector – all without needing to leave Lowestoft”

A new agreement between Sizewell C and Lowestoft MP, Jess Asato, will see the town benefit from at least 500 clean energy jobs during the construction of the nuclear power plant on the Suffolk coast.

Sizewell C has previously pledged that at least a third of the 7,900 peak construction workforce – around 2,600 jobs – will come from East Anglia. This latest commitment – which follows a similar agreement with MP Jack Abbott for Ipswich – aims to ensure people in Lowestoft benefit directly from those significant employment opportunities on site.

The pledge is being announced today at Nucleus, a new employability hub at East Coast College opened in partnership with Sizewell C last month. Nucleus will play an important role in ensuring people in the area are job ready – providing employment search assistance and application and interview support to those looking to secure employment, not only at Sizewell C, but across the region.

Jess Asato, MP for Lowestoft, said: “I stood in the election promising that our community would benefit from clean energy jobs, and so I am hugely proud to announce this agreement with Sizewell C. They have directly promised to deliver 500 jobs to people in Lowestoft, securing a brighter future for our young people and those who wish to reskill.

“With the Nucleus Employability Hub and East Coast College leading the way, residents have a clear pathway to high-skilled, high-paid careers in the clean energy sector – all without needing to leave Lowestoft.

“This agreement is more than just jobs; it’s about building a foundation of opportunity and investment, from the £250,000 in local partnerships to the life-changing training provided here. To further support this pledge, Sizewell C will run two Community-focused jobs fairs each year, ensuring these roles are accessible to everyone in our town.

“Lowestoft is well-positioned to benefit from the growing clean energy sector, creating real opportunities for our residents and helping our local economy to grow.”

The Sizewell C jobs pledge will be supported by a series of activities in Lowestoft to ensure that people can access the many career and development opportunities the project offers, including two-community focused Sizewell C jobs fairs a year and recruitment advertising in Lowestoft media.

This activity builds on the strong commitment Sizewell C has already made to the town. As well as an investment of £150k in the Nucleus employability hub and ongoing collaboration with East Coast College, Sizewell C has also recently announced a two-year funding agreement worth £100k with Access Community Trust to support Sams Wellbeing Hub and Café, providing a base to grow awareness and help people in Lowestoft access Sizewell C jobs.

Julia Pyke, Joint Managing Director of Sizewell C, said: “Lowestoft is an important town for Sizewell C – and this pledge is another great example of the major benefits this project can deliver to the area.

“We’ve issued around £5m of contracts so far to suppliers in Lowestoft. Through partnerships with East Coast College and Access Community Trust, we’re working to ensure people in the town can access the jobs and career opportunities this project provides. We’re collaborating with First Light Festival in Lowestoft to develop the arts in the region, offering young people more opportunities to participate and local communities more ways to engage with Sizewell C through the arts. And at the Port of Lowestoft, we’re developing the carbon capture technology that could play a big part in fighting climate change and significantly reduce the cost of current direct air capture technologies.

“Through these strong ties, we’re investing in the people and the skills, the businesses and the organisations that will have a lasting positive impact for Lowestoft.”

Sizewell C will spend billions of pounds with UK-based companies, and at least £2bn will be spent in Suffolk. Lowestoft businesses CEFAS, Elite Interiors, SRK Scaffolding, Pontins, and Belle Coaches are just some of the businesses to benefit from the £5m in contracts already issued to Lowestoft businesses.

Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero, Lord Hunt, said: “Sizewell C pledging hundreds of jobs for people in the nearby town of Lowestoft is a prime example of how new nuclear can directly support local communities.

“Our clean energy superpower mission is not just about taking back control of our energy system to protect consumers – it is also about powering economic growth through good jobs.”

In September, Sizewell C announced that it was committing £25m in an essential drainage and flood protection scheme close to the A12 south of Lowestoft. The Benacre and Kessingland Managed Realignment Scheme will protect dozens of local properties and around 600ha of farmland, and will help to significantly reduce the number of road closures due to flooding on the A12.

And earlier this week, the project’s arts initiative, Sizewell Creative, announced the first in a series of unique creative residencies, launched in partnership with Lowestoft’s First Light Festival CIC.