September 14, 2018 — Okanagan College says its new Trades Training Centre will prepare more skilled-trades students throughout British Columbia.

Located at Okanagan College’s Vernon campus, the 1,250 square-metre centre offers a purpose-built training space for students and instructors. The centre houses a dedicated welding shop and multi-use space for carpentry, electrical, plumbing and pipefitting programs.

The centre increases the number of teaching spaces by almost 40 per cent to 150 spaces, up from 108 spaces.

It will also house the college’s Women in Trades training program. It will create space for specialized programming, such as Gateway to the Trades initiatives tailored to Indigenous communities and employers in the region.

Okanagan College says these programs will provide women and Indigenous students with outreach, mentoring and leadership development to promote careers in the skilled trades.

The centre has been constructed to meet the minimum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold standard.

Of the $6.21-million total project cost, the Province of B.C. provided $2.88 million and the Government of Canada provided $2.66 million. The Okanagan College Foundation has raised nearly $1 million to cover the $673,000 capital construction cost, as well as provide support for students and programming.