Tafe SA honours building and construction future leaders

Future industry leaders were honoured at the annual TAFE SA Building and Construction Awards last week with 27 students recognised for their outstanding achievements from the 74 finalists shortlisted for the awards.

It’s the first time the Awards have been held since all building and construction courses were relocated under one roof at the new $120 million Tonsley TAFE campus, which opened in January.

The winning students are studying a variety of building and construction trades including carpentry, interior decoration, residential drafting, plumbing and water operations, electrical, refrigeration and air conditioning and painting and decorating.

Students are nominated for the Awards by TAFE SA lecturers or industry representatives with the winners decided by a series of judging panels.
The winners receive a certificate and tools donated by industry supporters.

The Awards presentation, attended by around 300 guests, provided an opportunity for students to meet with industry representatives and employers.

They included major award sponsor Bianco Construction and Industrial Supplies as well as other businesses and supporters who donated prizes to the winners.

Alison Roberts, TAFE SA Director, Building and Construction, said the Awards are a testament to the high quality of students undertaking courses at Tonsley TAFE.

“This year, we received a record number of nominations for the Awards with strong competition amongst the finalists,” said Ms Roberts.

“Congratulations go to all the winners, finalists and nominees at this year’s Awards.

“Deciding the Award winners was certainly a tough decision for the judges.”

Learning opportunities for TAFE SA Building and Construction students will continue to increase as benefits from the new Tonsley TAFE campus are realised.

Benefits include:
• Stronger industry links to guide course design and content;
• Greater collaboration with industry, universities and employers;
• Adoption of new technologies to support ‘student centric’ learning, and:
• Most importantly all the building trades studying under one roof and working collaboratively as they’re required to do in the industry.

“The new state-of-the-art facilities and methods of learning at Tonsley will continue to help raise the bar and develop a highly skilled workforce for the South Australian building and construction industry,” said Ms Roberts.

“Tonsley TAFE will become an industry centre for life-long learning where students will be able to return throughout their career for ongoing skill development.

“It will be train more than 6,500 students a year with an average of 800 attending every day.”

Applications opened for TAFE SA Building and Construction programs, and all TAFE SA courses, on June 2. To apply visit the TAFE SA website.

For more information on the courses on offer http://www.tafesa.edu.au/courses/building-furnishing

For more information on Tonsley TAFE http://tafesa.edu.au/tonsley