Construction of NAIT’s Advanced Skills Centre officially began Sept. 8 with a groundbreaking ceremony attended by NAIT leadership, government officials, industry partners and alumni.
The 625,000-square-foot centre is NAIT’s largest capital project to date and is expected to train an additional 5,500 apprentices each year once completed.
Mayor Andrew Knack said the project represents an investment in Edmonton’s workforce as the city continues to grow.
“Building a city also requires human infrastructure, including the skills and talents of our residents,” Knack said during the ceremony.
The centre will bring together 29 programs in construction, transportation, manufacturing and energy. It is expected to provide students and apprentices with modern training spaces and equipment designed to prepare them for the workplace.
Alberta’s minister of advanced education, Myles McDougall, said the project is the largest investment in trades training infrastructure in Alberta’s history.
McDougall also highlighted the role industry partners played in getting the project approved.
“When we were in the Cabinet and Treasury Board making the decision about this, the fact that industry and the partners were there as well to help support this project was the most important and most critical,” McDougall said.
For Nathalie Durant, a 2017 NAIT plumbing and gasfitting graduate and current project manager at Hobart Contractors, the new facility offers students something she did not have: closer access to the main campus.
“But now you’re right here and you really get to feel like you’re a part of NAIT and not so far away.”
Durant told the Nugget that one of the biggest benefits will be the centre’s location next to NAIT’s main campus.
As a student, Durant studied at NAIT’s Patricia campus in west Edmonton. She said she generally travelled to the main campus only when she needed resources or services that were not available at her campus.
“But now you’re right here and you really get to feel like you’re a part of NAIT and not so far away,” Durant said.
The centre will also provide students with greater access to services and resources on the main campus while maintaining NAIT’s hands-on approach to trades education.
Knack said the project will help ensure Edmonton has the skilled workers needed as businesses expand and major projects move forward.
“You are the future of our city,” Knack told future students who will walk the centre’s halls.
Construction is now underway, with the first students expected to enter the new facility in Fall 2030.
Feature image by Roman Fares/The Nugget
