ODPM to pay for Egan's national centre for sustainable community skills

The project will be recommended next week in Sir John Egan's review of the training needed for planners, architects and developers to deliver John Prescott's vision for sustainable communities.

The ODPM originally allocated £10m to fund the first two years of the centre but a source said the actual sum would be "significantly less" because some of the money had gone elsewhere. It has not yet been decided whether the centre will be a new physical institution or simply a set of web-based courses.

Egan's report is expected on Monday although the ODPM, which commissioned it, would not confirm a date.

It will follow two surveys published this week that both highlight a dearth of skilled design workers: one from the London Assembly and one from government design watchdog the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.

The report from the London Assembly, the elected body that holds the London mayor to account, concluded that poor urban design skills were among the factors hampering the construction of good buildings in the capital.

It said many London buildings were poorly designed and lacked a sense of place.

CABE's report said councils were struggling to recruit people with urban design skills – 85% of the local authorities questioned said they needed more design professionals.

The number of councils employing one or more designers or landscape architects was up by just one percentage point on 2001, at 49%.

The number of local authorities employing registered architects fell significantly, from 38% in 2001 to 32% in 2003.

CABE concluded that the shortage of skilled workers was pricing councils out of the market.

But the number of "design champions" – people responsible for raising the standard of design – in councils has more than doubled since 2001: 43% of councils now have one.

Egan's report is expected to call for better political leadership from councils in getting sustainable communities built.

It is also likely to recommend the setting up of a new professional body working across the construction professions.

The review was commissioned last April by the deputy prime minister. However, its interim report, published in December, attracted criticism from planners and housebuilders for being too broadly focused.

Sheila Hoile, director of training strategy at training body CITB Construction Skills, which contributed to the review, said: "We are aware that one of Egan's primary aims is to establish a national centre of excellence for sustainable community skills and we look forward to being involved in the development of this."