BC’s Okanogan College to Construct New Trades Building

December 4, 2016

The federal and BC governments will provide more than $5 million in funding for the construction of a new 1,250 square-metre (13,450 square-foot) Trades Training Centre at Okanagan College’s Vernon campus.

The funding will help address a shortage of available trades training shops in the region by providing a purpose-built space at the Vernon campus.

The new building, which will accommodate approximately 150 students, will include multipurpose trades shops and supporting space, a dedicated welding shop, and multi-use trade space for the electrical, carpentry, plumbing and pipefitting programs, as well as Aboriginal and Women Trades Training programs.

The new trades training centre in Vernon will provide on-campus training capacity for approximately 150 trades students, compared to the existing off-site leased trades facility that supports approximately 108 students per year.

As a result of these investments, students, professors and researchers will work in state-of-the-art facilities. They will collaborate in specially designed spaces that support lifelong learning and skills training. They will work in close proximity with partners to turn discoveries into products or services.

Federal-provincial funding for this project includes:

• $2.66 million from the Government of Canada

• $2.88 million from the Province of British Columbia

Okanagan College will contribute $670,000 to the project. Construction is expected to get underway shortly with completion by spring 2018. The new building will be built to LEED Gold certification, and construction is expected to create 25 direct and 13 indirect jobs for the region.