New tradies helping community get through COVID

Students entering New Zealand Certificate in Construction Trades Skills (Level 3) sometimes haven’t picked up a tool before.

Now only weeks into the course, they are using their skills to solve a major issue facing health providers as cases of Omicron increase in the community.

“These guys are getting the skills necessary to be employable,” says Curriculum Lead Nicholas Ali.

“There's more learning in a building environment out on a real worksite. This pre-trade programme prepares the students to go out to work with the confidence they need.”

One of the major projects for certificate students is building a sleepout. In the past, these have been sold off to the public.

However, TechPark has started selling them at material-price to community organisations due to the increased demand for isolation units and separated space.

“This is the first year MIT has looked for public good initiatives to help support with the sleepouts,” say TechPark Procurement Administrator Santana Manning.

“Normally, people buy them for their homes or their baches. Due to COVID-19, there’s been a huge drop in the availability of building materials, so a lot of charitable organisations have had to look elsewhere to facilitate new spaces to use.”

Rosehill Christian Medical Centre is one of the first to benefit from the scheme.

“We wanted a space where we could separate symptomatic patients from the building so we could avoid cross-contamination - this was put up roughly two weeks ago and we started using it late last week,” says Practice Manager Shyna Vibal-Sapitula.

“We are a charity, so we don’t have a lot of extra funds, we share our building with a church, so the sleepout has and will continue to be a huge help,” Shyna says.

The 12-month certificate programme is designed for those entering the construction industry allowing students to develop skills and knowledge in carpentry, scaffolding and masonry.

“They also learn to work with one another and understand the language barriers between the different groups of students. These students come from different ethnic backgrounds with very different levels of skills – some are coming straight from school, while others are looking for a complete career change, and what unites them is their knowledge of the building industry booming in New Zealand and there is a high demand of skilled people,” says Nicholas Ali.

Another initiative in the pipeline is providing a number of the sleepouts to be used by Victim Support.