May 14, 2015
Province Announces New Skilled Trades and Technology Centre to Prepare up to 1,000 Students Yearly for Good Jobs
– – –Red River College has Key Role in Preparing Highly Trained Workers to Build Manitoba's Economy: Premier Selinger
A new Skilled Trades and Technology Centre at Red River College will train up to 1,000 students yearly for good paying jobs and provide industry with the highly trained employees needed to expand and be competitive in a challenging international economy, Premier Greg Selinger and David Rew, interim president and CEO, Red River College, announced today.
“Manitoba is building like never before and jobs in the skilled trades will be in greater demand as our economy expands,” said Premier Selinger. “We want to provide students with the training they need to begin a great career and build their futures right here at home.”
A $60-million investment in the new 100,000-sq.-ft., state-of-the-art facility will boost trades and technology education space at the Notre Dame Campus by more than 30 per cent, Premier Selinger said. The centre will be an important hub for the province’s skills training strategy and will be a key factor in increasing Manitoba’s workforce by 75,000 highly trained people by 2020, the premier added.
“I wish to applaud the Province of Manitoba for continuing to invest in skilled trades and the ongoing investment in Red River College. This new facility will allow us to continue to enhance and expand our offerings in skilled trades education and further allow us to build on our work in many technology sectors,” said Rew. “Not only will the Skilled Trades and Technology Centre further expand our applied learning environment, but it fosters a collaborative approach among many of our program areas that will have a positive impact on our pre-employment training, applied research projects and overall student success.”
The facility will house new laboratory and shop space and classrooms to train students in high-demand trades and technologies including carpentry, electrical, and heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC). It will also support technology and innovation in other related industrial sectors, such as mechanical and manufacturing.
The premier noted the new building is expected to exceed the requirements of the Manitoba Green Building Policy. It will be built by Akman Construction and it is estimated it will support the equivalent of 566 jobs during construction, he added.
Since 1999, the province has invested more than $100 million to support construction of new facilities at Red River College including improvements to the Exchange District campus and the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute. In that same period, Red River College enrolment increased by more than 60 per cent to about 12,000 students this year, which represents more than 70 per cent of all college student enrolment in Manitoba.
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