Kinetic Construction has won the $22-million job of building Camosun College’s new Centre for Trades Education and Innovation, scheduled to be open with 20 programs in fall 2015.
Training in the 80,000-square-foot facility will reflect emerging trades, such as shipbuilding, sustainable construction, and resource infrastructure, Camosun president Kathryn Laurin said Monday at the ground-breaking ceremony.
The centre will boost Camosun’s training capacity, something that employers have been calling for.
A total 2,570 full-time-equivalent skilled trades students will be able to attend Camosun, up 370 from the current 2,200, Laurin said.
A $5-million capital campaign will be launched to buy up-to-date equipment and to pay for features in the new building, such as a covered outdoor work yard and storage, she said.
The entire project to improve trades training facilities at the campus will cost more than $30 million, with $29.2 million coming from the province. Existing facilities will be renovated with new electrical and data network upgrades, and better use of space. That work is to be finished by spring 2016.
Training options for students include a marine and metal trades program, with welding, sheet metal, metal fabrication, nautical, shipbuilding and repair programs. Students in mechanical trades will learn about heavy-duty commercial truck transport mechanics and can study to be an automotive service technician.
A student commons will be part of the new centre to allow students from different trades to meet and study together, Laurin said.
Ryan Zumach is entering sheet metal and metal fabrication trades training, hoping to join the shipbuilding industry. He anticipates a seamless transition from classroom to job because he’ll be learning on the same equipment he would use on the job.
“The new trades facility will offer students state of the art technology as well as industry-standard equipment,” he said.
Kinetic, with headquarters in Victoria, was one of eight bidders for the construction job, Peter Lockie, Camosun vice-president, said. Its successful bid was $22.198 million.
Building the new facility, with its contemporary design, at Camosun’s Interurban campus will result in close to 200 jobs, largely in construction.
Advanced Education Minister Amrik Virk said that of the one million job openings expected in B.C. by 2020, 40 per cent will require some kind of skills training. “So this facility is right in gear with that.”
Students will get a “head start to get a good paycheque,” Virk said Monday at the ground-breaking ceremony. “This is where we are going to create a whole bunch of jobs for B.C.”
