LONDON'S Olympic bid triumph could make the skills shortages in the region's construction sector worse.

CITB-Construction Skills - the sector skills body for the industry - issued the warning as it published a blueprint for tackling the skills shortage in the North-East.

Unless something is done about the shortage, estimated to be about 10,000 workers, it is feared efforts to revitalise the region could be in jeapardy.

But the 2012 Olympic Games being held in London, and requiring at least £10bn-worth of construction work, will make the problem worse.

Lucrative contracts on major developments, such as Heathrow Terminal 5, are already starving the region of tradespeople.

The North-East has been enjoying a boom in construction, with the sector growing by 22 per cent last year, but finding skilled workers has become increasingly difficult.

Tradesman and skilled builders have been lured away from the North-East by higher wages in the South.

For the past decade, thousands of North-East labourers have helped shore up the construction sector in London and the South-East.

CITB has joined with the Learning and Skills Council to improve the image of construction in an effort to bring people into the industry.

More than 90 per cent of businesses in the region have reported difficulties recruiting skilled workers.

CITB's plan sets out a three-year strategy to increase the numbers of trained workers.

Based on the latest research, the North-East will need to recruit and train more than 10,000 workers before 2010.

CITB regional strategic advisor Simon Murray said: "Regionally, we must grasp the nettle regarding all the pressing issues facing our industry and drive the timetable of change forward."

Demand for housing, hospitals, schools, offices and roads is expected to grow in the next six years.

Research carried out into workforce migration last year found that the North-East construction sector had a so-called leakage factor of 21 per cent.