Fitzpatrick fought-off competition from Laing O’Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine, Vinci, Mansell and Rok to bag the £6m Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy in east London.
The academy will be used to train at least 3,500 people during the lifetime of the project
The academy will start to offer training in spring 2011 and the building will be fully open by summer 2011.
Following the completion of Crossrail the academy will remain to provide a lasting legacy for the UK construction industry.
The Academy will be located at Aldersbrook Sidings on the border of Newham and Redbridge, close to Ilford town centre. Enabling works are currently taking place on site ahead of main construction starting.
Crossrail tunnelling activity will get underway in late 2011.
In just over one year from now the first tunnel boring machines will start on their journey from Royal Oak towards Farringdon. This will be followed shortly by the launch of further tunnel boring machines in Docklands that will head towards Farringdon under central London.
Teams of dedicated construction workers will be working 24 hours a day to complete the tunnels with thousands of others employed to upgrade the existing rail network and build major new stations along the central section of the route.
Terry Morgan, Crossrail Chairman, said: “As well as delivering much needed additional rail capacity, Crossrail has an important role to play in supporting regeneration and the economy.
“Ensuring that job opportunities are made available to Londoners – and that Londoners have the skills required – is a vital part of Crossrail’s approach to construction.
“Contractors winning work with Crossrail will recruit and employ local people along the construction route and it is likely many of these people will attend training at the Academy.
“This will ensure that we have people with the right skills in place to deliver Crossrail for London and many other vital infrastructure projects in the future.”
The volume of tunnelling and underground construction work taking place in the UK over the next decade is unprecedented.
Aside from Crossrail, Thames Water will be constructing the Thames Tideway Tunnel sewerage scheme while National Grid will be constructing new electricity cable tunnels under London.