School’s in session: Georgina Trades Training Inc. opens new facility

GTTI's New Skilled Trades Institute officially opens, registration open for July session

Yorkregion.com
Feb. 1, 2021
Amanda Persico

Welcome class of July 2021.

Against all odds and amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Georgina Trades Training Inc. opened its doors to a new batch of students -- skilled trade students.

More than 100 students started training in the GTTI’s Skilled Trades Institute temporary location, at the Salvation Army Jackson’s Point Camp and Conference Centre.

Of those, more than 75 per cent are from York Region.

Students are training both online and in-class and are subject to a number of COVID-19 safety protocols, including daily screening and temperature checks along with increased sanitization and physical distancing measures in school.

In the first batch of applications, GTTI received more than 235 applications for 120 free-tuition spots for the new trades school.

“It’s exciting,” said Bil Trainor, chairperson of the Skilled Trades Institute.

Not only is the new trades school providing hands-on training in eight residential construction sectors (drywall, roofing, carpentry, cabinet making, electrical, HVAC, electrical, plumbing and roofing), but at the end the 26-week program trade students will have built fully serviced, finished modular bungalows.

The 1,100 to 1,200 square-foot modular bungalows -- close to 70 homes to be built in the first five years of the program -- will be sold to third-party agencies such as Habitat for Humanity for affordable housing.

Recently, the region’s affordable housing company, Housing York, announced four modular homes will be built and added to the Sutton Youth Shelter.

The four prefab homes, built by students in the Skilled Trades Institute, will be managed by the Salvation Army.

“The need and demand for affordable housing remains high across the region,” said York Region chairperson and CEO Wayne Emmerson.

Prefabricated homes offer a cost-effective and rapid response to the affordable housing shortage across the region.

At the end of 2019, there were more than 17,400 households on a waitlist for affordable housing in the region, with less than 300 households being housed each year.

Along with adding to the affordable housing stock, the program is also adding to the skilled trades pool and filling the labour gap in the skilled trades industries, said Phil Adams, Skilled Trades Institute director.

According to BuildForce Canada’s 10-year construction labour market forecast, written pre-pandemic, more than 100,000 additional workers in the trades will be needed by 2029 just to keep up with residential construction demand post-pandemic. That includes replacing more than 86,000 workers or more than 20 per cent of the current labour force who are expected to retire in the next decade.

“Ontario’s skilled trades offer rewarding career opportunities that will play an important part in our economic recovery. These jobs exist, but right now, we can’t find enough workers to fill them,” said Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development.

Opening the Skilled Trades Institute could not have come at a better time, as more than 12,000 Grade 12 students from across York Region are expected to graduate this year, Trainor said.

And registration for the July session is now open.

The temporary training centre at the Salvation Army was retrofitted into eight training buildings, one for each skilled trade, while work is progressing on the construction campus at 1614 Metro Rd.

Last summer, GTTI secured a $4 million investment from the province along with another $2.6 million from the town to build a three-acre construction campus, set to open in late spring when current students move from in-class training to building modular homes.

Servicing work on the site is scheduled to start in the coming weeks.

Work is progressing on the construction campus, which includes erecting two construction domes so construction on the modular bungalows continues year-round.

For more information, visit gtti.ca/skilled-trades-institute