Students and apprentices in Perth's northern suburbs will start training in new state-of-the-art facilities in Balga from Term 1, 2025, thanks to a $51.1 million State Government investment in new infrastructure.
Premier Roger Cook and Training and Workforce Development Minister Simone McGurk today officially opened the Construction Skills Innovation Hub at North Metropolitan TAFE's Balga campus, which will benefit more than 5,800 students each year.
The Balga campus is a hub of building and construction training, and has undergone significant redevelopment, with the new Construction Skills Innovation Hub replacing 22 rundown transportable classrooms.
The redevelopment includes two new buildings, which will provide apprentices with world-class training in future building and construction skills, students with foundational skills and new migrants with training in English.
The centrepiece of the new upgrades is a 1,140 square metre, cutting-edge Future Trades Workshop, which is one of the first of its kind in the country.
The ground floor's flexible design provides digitally enabled training space that connects to a large open workspace, which can be adapted to support emerging construction technologies.
The workshop will provide an estimated 750 trades apprentices annually with a future-focused training space where they can learn trades theory and develop their practical skills in real time through hands-on applications.
It also includes a simulated energy-saving smart home training facility, outfitted with new and emerging technologies adopted by the construction industry, giving electrical apprentices opportunities to build skills in digital light and home automation integration so they are job-ready to join this growing industry.
Alongside the Future Trades Workshop is a new three-storey multipurpose building, which provides a welcoming entry to the campus and includes a new Student Resource Centre and Learning Hub, classrooms, computer labs, student breakout spaces, a client services centre and student and staff amenities.
The Student Resource Centre and Learning Hub has been tailored to meet the training needs of a future-focused building and construction trades campus. It is outfitted with a simulated kitchen with automated cabinet hardware and a light gauge steel framing construction, which showcases a variety of building products - giving students an opportunity to familiarise themselves with what they will encounter in the industry.
The new multipurpose building will also be home to the Balga Jobs and Skills Centre, which has friendly and professional staff on hand to provide free one-on-one advice to jobseekers and people keen to upskill or retrain for local employment opportunities.
Designed by Perth architecture studio Hassell and built by local company EMCO Building, the capital works project supported more than 930 jobs, including providing on-the-job experience for more than 95 apprentices and trainees.
The new Construction Skills Innovation Hub is part of the State Government's record $250 million investment in new and upgraded infrastructure at WA TAFE colleges under the Rebuilding our TAFEs plan. It is the final capital works project - of a total of 15 - delivered at TAFE campuses throughout Western Australia since 2021.
Since 2017, the State Government has successfully delivered significant infrastructure upgrades at 22 TAFE campuses right across WA to provide modern, industry-relevant training, including:
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Premier Roger Cook said, "Building our construction workforce is the key to unlocking more homes, and this $51.1 million upgrade to one of Perth's main building and construction training hubs will be critical in skilling up our next generation of tradies."
"At the heart of North Metropolitan TAFE's new Construction Skills Innovation Hub is a cutting-edge Future Trades Workshop, where students can gain the skills needed for jobs using emerging and future construction technologies."
"We are proud to have delivered significant infrastructure upgrades at 22 TAFE campuses right across the State since coming to government in 2017."
"Only a Cook Labor Government can be trusted to do what's right for WA and help local people into quality jobs with affordable and industry-relevant TAFE."
Training and Workforce Development Minister Simone McGurk added, "The transformation of North Metropolitan TAFE's Balga campus sends a clear message that our Government values training and we want to ensure students in the northern suburbs have access to world class facilities and opportunities."
"The new Future Trades Workshop - one of the first of its kind in the country - is an innovative training hub, providing more than 750 trades apprentices annually with industry-relevant training in residential trades such as electrical and plumbing."
"It is more important than ever that tradies of the future have access to state-of-the art facilities, where they can gain skills in the latest technologies, getting them 'job-ready' to meet the evolving demands of industry."
Mirrabooka MLA Meredith Hammat said, "The new Construction Skills Innovation Hub is a great addition to North Metropolitan TAFE's Balga campus, providing our local community with modern training facilities that will allow people to skill, reskill and upskill to take up job opportunities."
"Our migrant communities and young tradie apprentices alike will benefit from these new facilities with new skills helping them to transform their lives and take part in our thriving economy."
