I’m trying some new things this week, with the website rankings yesterday and today the launch of an occasional series on new tertiary education facilities. I’m happy to cover any new facilities as long as the organisation can give me some good photos and there is something interesting about the development. First up is Unitec’s new Plumbing and Gasfitting Training and Assessment Centre, opened by the local MP in late May. Unitec frames it as “another step in cementing its place as the number one provider of trades training”. I’m sure some other people will see themselves as number one, but competition is healthy!

The new training and assessment centre will, at a cost of $1.6m, provide plumbing and gasfitting students with the necessary training required in a real-world environment using the latest learning technologies. Professional plumbers and gasfitters will also be able to use the centre to fulfill the ongoing continued professional development that they require to maintain their annual practising licenses.

The new centre has special booths set up for students to learn as if they’re working on the job, and virtual welders to help with learning in a safe environment. You can see the layout quite well in the next couple of photos, getting a sense of the modular nature of the space, the range of work that can be carried out and also the support from commercial partners.

Executive Dean for the Faculty of Built Environment, David Nummy, says the establishment of the centre is only the beginning of a major upgrade for his faculty. Nummy says the vision his faculty has for the future is to provide a flexible training space that can be easily changed to accommodate the various trades students are studying. For example, a space that plumbing students use one day can easily be converted to accommodate automotive students the next day.

The picture below shows a lot of sponsors’ material, but once you strip all that out you have a series of frames ready for plumbing to be installed.

The space reminds me of the TradeFIT facility down at CPIT and it looks like a useful simulation workspace. Congrats to Unitec.