State-of-the-art LiUNA training centre to open in Richmond Hill with ‘increased, enhanced’ construction programs

'It’s providing the people of Richmond Hill the ability to get trained locally to meet the growing need of this burgeoning metropolis'

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 25, 2019
Sheila Wang

A new and improved training facility of a local trade union is set to open this fall in Richmond Hill to train a skilled workforce in construction to meet the growing demand in the GTA and beyond.

Expanded on an existing facility, the modern brick and glass building of the Labourers' International Union of North America (LiUNA) Local 506 on Major Mackenzie near Highway 404 is expected to significantly increase its apprenticeship programs and enhance skills training in construction.

“It’s deemed to be the perfect location because it trains people from all over the GTA,” said Elie Newman, lead architect, and principal at BNKC, a Toronto-based firm that designed the new facility.

The new training centre adds 48,000 square feet to the original LiUNA training centre, which has outgrown its space after preparing future construction workers for almost three decades.

“The existing facility by itself is just not big enough or developed enough to meet the growing skills shortages this province faces and to meet the additional requirement necessary to provide the workforce to compete in the 21st century,” said Andy Gordon, owner representative who was among the main contributors to the expansion project.

The expansion will not only increase the capacity of the existing training programs, broaden the scope of the training, but also upgrade the facility to meet modern needs, Gordon said.

Meanwhile, the expansion of the training centre will have a profound local impact in Richmond Hill as well, he said.

“It’s visually a stunning building for what it does, and secondly it’s providing the people of Richmond Hill the ability to get trained locally to meet the growing need of this burgeoning metropolis,” Gordon said.

The construction industry has changed significantly over the past decades, and the demand for Canadian construction workers over the next 10 years is expected to grow fast, leaving hundreds of thousands of jobs to fill, according to the BuildForce Canada assessment.

The new training centre houses three large industrial bays, a welding studio, a total of eight classrooms as well as a multi-purpose lecture hall and collaboration space.

Cranes and other large equipment will be used for training inside two of the industrial bays, Newman said.

He noted the new facility provides a plethora of programs to train skilled workers needed in the construction industry, including concrete finishing, exhibition and display and the handling of hazardous materials.

“They train different kinds of people, not just people who do it as alternative,” Newman said. “It’s happening these days where somebody has finished post-secondary education and then decided they wanted to go work in the construction industry.”

About 168,000 new apprentices will be needed in Canada over the next five years to keep pace with the current market demands, according to a report published earlier this year by Statistics Canada and the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum.

Here in Canada, it is basically falling upon the community colleges and the trade unions to train the trade professional, Gordon added.

The shortage in skilled workforce is not unique to Canada, but rather a rising issue internationally, he said.

An official opening date has not yet been set.