Apprentices and trainees in north Queensland now have access to state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, with the opening of a $30 million trade workshop at a Cairns TAFE.
Opening its doors for the first time last month (August 28), the new education precinct at Tropical North Queensland TAFE (TNQT) gives novice tradies access to some of the country’s best training gear, The Cairns Post reported.
The multimillion-dollar facility will enable apprentices and trainees to complete their vocational training with hands-on experience similar to working in real-life industries.
Students will have access to $2 million worth of modern equipment that they would use working in a genuine workplace environment.
Aspiring carpenters, brick layers, civic construction workers, plumbers and engineers, as well as other tradespeople, will benefit from the new training space.
“We demolished seven old buildings and put this huge facility on top of it,” TNQT institute director Joann Pyne explained.
“Having an open and flexible space allows us to adapt to industry demands when there’s a peak in one trade and troughs in the others.”
A carpentry apprentice completing her first year at the TAFE said she was blown away by the professional and hi-tech facilities provided at the institute.
“That’s all I’ve known because I’m only in my first year, but I was pretty impressed with it,” Courtney Bird told the publication.
