Perth construction skills and innovation hub opens for 2025 school year

In Perth's northern suburbs, the TAFE Balga Campus redevelopment has reached completion and is set to open to students from term one. The upgrade to the city's education institute has been underway since 2022 and will replace the site's 22 modular and transportable classrooms originally constructed in the 1970s.

Designed by Hassell, the upgraded facility includes two new buildings aimed at providing apprentices with high-quality training in future construction skills, students with foundational knowledge and new migrants with training in English. According to a release from the Western Australian government, the new Construction Skills Innovation Hub will host more than 5,800 students annually.

WA Premier Roger Cook noted, "At the heart of North Metropolitan TAFE's new Construction Skills Innovation Hub is a cutting-edge Future Trades Workshop, where students can gain the skills needed for jobs using emerging and future construction technologies." The Western Australian government claim that the 1,140-square-metre workshop is the first of its kind in the country and estimate that it will accommodate 750 students each year.

On the ground floor, a flexible layout incorporates a digitally enabled training space that connects to a large, open workspace. The release noted that the workshop "also includes a simulated energy-saving smart home training facility, outfitted with new and emerging technologies adopted by the construction industry, giving electrical apprentices opportunities to build skills in digital light and home automation integration so they are job-ready to join this growing industry."

Alongside the Future Trades Workshop, a new three-storey multipurpose building operates as the entry point to the campus, hosting a student resource centre and learning hub, classrooms, computer labs, student breakout spaces, a client services centre, and student and staff amenities. The hub is outfitted with a simulated kitchen with automated cabinet hardware and a light gauge steel framing construction, showcasing a variety of building products and giving students an opportunity to familiarise themselves with what they will encounter in the industry.

The new Construction Skills Innovation Hub is part of wider $250 million investment in new and upgraded infrastructure at WA TAFE colleges. It is the final capital works project - of a total of 15 - delivered at TAFE campuses throughout Western Australia since 2021.