BCIT’s Trades & Technology Complex will be an innovative, integrated learning environment for 21st-century trades education—including a focus on high-tech timber trades training. The multi-facility project will showcase advanced, made-in-BC mass timber construction and design, while providing an advanced educational hub focused on growing the number of much-needed trades professionals in the province.
- A cutting-edge training facility to help meet the growing demand for skilled trades professionals in BC.
- A multi-facility hub to showcase innovative, made-in-BC mass timber systems.
- The project’s overall capital value of $220 million is estimated to generate between 950 and 1,175 direct jobs.
A next generation trades training complex to meet the growing demand for skilled labour
This $177.6 million Trades and Technology Complex (TTC) at BCIT’s Burnaby campus provides more than 700 students access to the latest in advanced trade training and education. The state-of-the-art educational hub fosters immersive learning across disciplines and includes workshops, laboratories, simulation lab space, maker space and a reconfigured works yard. The complex is planned for construction across multiple sites on the Burnaby campus.
In addition to supporting existing enrollment, the project boosts BCIT’s training capacity for hundreds of new full and part-time student spots annually, helping to meet the growing demand for skilled trades professionals in BC over the next 10 years and beyond.
This includes training for BC’s forestry industry from engineers and millwrights to forest technicians and data scientists. The project also supports BCIT’s growing mass timber training efforts, which includes a microcredit and associate certificate program.
The project’s overall capital value of $177.6 million is estimated to generate between 950 and 1,175 direct jobs with an equivalent number of indirect jobs.
A multi-facility hub showcasing innovative mass timber
At the heart of the complex will be a new Concert Properties Centre for Trades and Technology. The three-storey, approximate 8000 square-metre building with mass timber elements is designed to encourage inter-disciplinary collaboration between students in trades, technology, engineering and architecture studies.
The Robert Bosa Carpentry Pavilion—housing BCIT’s new mass timber construction training program, brings a two-storey facility including a project assembly area and classroom spaces constructed of mass timber.
A Marine and Mass Timber Workshop features a high overhead clearance, open ends, and bridge cranes. The building’s design enables the new mass timber installers and marine fitting programs to erect mass timber structures and heavy steel mock-ups.
A two-storey, 2900 square metre Campus Services Centre, constructed of mass timber, brings together the current corporate services, campus development, project services, and facilities management to a single, modern site.
The ecological restoration of the nearby Guichon Creek creates a new pedestrian greenspace through the heart of the Burnaby Campus, serving as a living lab for students studying ecological restoration.
BCIT is targeting net-zero, LEED Gold, and passive house strategies, in addition to using sustainably harvested locally sourced wood products.
“The development of BCIT’s Trades & Technology Complex is a great opportunity for us to demonstrate leadership of British Columbia’s world-class expertise in mass timber manufacturing, design, and construction. BCIT has a unique opportunity to contribute to the BC economy by training the future architects, engineers, contractors and trades, as well as showcase the innovation in mass timber and net-zero buildings, through development of our own projects.”
-Danica djurkovic, aibc, leed® ap, associate vice-president, campus planning and facilities
