A new trades training centre coming to Walkerton has broke ground.
LiUNA Local 1059 put shovels in the ground Wednesday morning for the new $12.7 million facility at the corner of Creighton Road and Bruce Road 19.
Business Manager Brandon MacKinnon says, “Super exciting to host our groundbreaking, it was the culmination of a lot of work.”
This 23,000 square foot facility will feature training ranging from forming and finishing concrete, utilities and distribution, sewer and watermain, and other sectors.
It will also feature classrooms, where members and apprentices can take part in certification and skills courses in first aid, working at heights, skid steer safety, traffic control, and more.
The facility will also act as a community hub for events promoting skilled trades, including Try-A-Trade days, where LiUNA Local 1059 regularly holds youth safety certifications and outreach programs for young people to introduce them to careers in construction.
MacKinnon says this is the first training facility they are are building in the area.
“We wanted to provide more of a physical footprint in the region to provide training to our current members and apprentices and to support them in the area as well as attract and retain new workers, supply workers to our signatory companies,” says MacKinnon.
He says this project has been a vision for the past four to five years.
“We currently have a large continent of members in the region, mostly working at Bruce Power, but also doing a lot of telecommunication infrastructure, a bit of asphalt paving, sewer and watermain, but to really properly support our members and our signatory employers, we needed that physical footprint in the area,” says MacKinnon.
He adds with major infrastructure projects on the horizon in the region including Bruce C at Bruce Power and the proposed TC Energy Pumped Storage Project in Meaford, LiUNA Local 1059 wants to be ready to provide skilled labour.
The facility is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2026 or early 2027.