NewsArchitecture & DesignDevelopmentUrbanized

$163 million skills-training hub to be built at BCIT Burnaby campus

Kenneth Chan
Kenneth Chan
|
Feb 17 2022, 9:20 pm
$163 million skills-training hub to be built at BCIT Burnaby campus
Artistic rendering of the new trades and technology centre at BCIT Burnaby. (Hughes Condon Marler Architects)

A years-long plan to provide the BCIT Burnaby campus with new and expanded skills training facilities has received funding from the provincial government.

Premier John Horgan announced this morning that the province will provide $136.6 million towards the new trades and technology complex, entailing the construction of four new buildings. Another $26 million will be provided by BCIT, bringing the total project cost to $162.6 million.

This will benefit over 12,000 full- and part-time students annually in over 20 trades and technology programs. Construction will begin in 2023.

“This important investment will facilitate the ongoing transformation of BCIT’s Burnaby campus and our ability to help power BC’s ongoing pandemic recovery by giving trades and technology learners the skills and credentials they need for today and tomorrow,” said Kathy Kinloch, president of BCIT, in a statement.

“This transformation will also provide our incredible faculty and staff with the tools needed to stay in lockstep with industry’s current and emerging trends.”

bcit burnaby trades and technology building

Artistic rendering of the new trades and technology centre at BCIT Burnaby. (Hughes Condon Marler Architects)

The trades and technology centre will be a four-storey, 82,600-sq-ft building that will consolidate several trades, diploma degree, and masters programs into one location, with space for inter-trades and technology collaboration.

The complex also entails a marine workshop, with a steel structure with high overhead clearance, featuring open ends and gantry cranes. This will accommodate the new mass timber installer program’s construction of mass timber structures, as well as marine-fitting programs that benefit from the ability to create a simulated shipyard.

Other spaces that are part of this project include a covered carpentry pavilion to provide further space for the new mass timber construction training program and a new two-storey, 35,000-sq-ft campus services building.

The new trades and technology centre building will be constructed on the eastern edge of the campus fronting Carey Avenue — on the parking lot immediately south of the existing NE12 Steel Trades Building. Other spaces and buildings that are part of the project will also be built in adjacent areas.

After the new centre is built, extensive renovations will be performed on the NE12 building, which spans 31,000 sq ft.

bcit burnaby trades and technology building

Future site of the new trades and technology building and ancillary facilities at BCIT Burnaby. (BCIT)

bcit burnaby trades and technology building

Artistic rendering of the campus services centre at BCIT Burnaby. (Colborne Architectural Group)

Additional work will also restore Guichon Creek by daylighting what is a major underground waterway, previously a culvert. The restoration of the creek will offer new pedestrian green space through the core of the campus, as well as a living lab for students studying ecological restoration.

The provincial government says the investment in this facility is part of its broader strategy of ensuring there is enough skilled labour to support the wave of new job openings expected over the coming years.

It is anticipated there will be over one million job openings over the next 10 years, with about 80% requiring post-secondary education and training. This includes over 85,000 new trades jobs.

Currently, BC is already facing an immense skilled trades labour shortage, which inhibits economic growth, and pushes costs upwards, including the cost of new housing and infrastructure projects.

“Our government understands that people are the economy and that growing the economy cannot mean leaving people behind,” said Horgan. “Today, BC is a national economic leader, and our StrongerBC plan provides a framework to create a low-carbon economy that works for everyone. An economy built for all is an economy built to succeed.”

The new skilled trades facilities adds to other major new-build projects at the BCIT Burnaby campus, including the new $78-million Health Sciences Centre and a $115-million student residence with 464 beds.

bcit burnaby trades and technology building

Artistic rendering of the carpentry pavilion at BCIT Burnaby. (Thinkspace Architecture)

ADVERTISEMENT