Today, the Minister for Building and Construction and Associate Education Minister, The Hon. Jenny Salesa, MP opened the newly refurbished 8000 square metres New Zealand Management Academies (NZMA) Trades Campus, on Great South Road, Mount Wellington, Auckland.
Fitted out with brand new classrooms, workshops, and lab, the purpose-built site will be a hub for students wanting to learn trades skills in South Auckland.
After the official pōwhiri, the Minister said, “I am impressed with the vision shown by New Zealand Management Academies to open this facility to train more builders, painters, plumbers and electricians. Last year thousands of NZMA graduates and students were placed into jobs. I have no doubt there will be a high demand for your trades students. I look forward to seeing more Pacific and Maori tradespeople graduate from here, and I congratulate the Academy for being part of the Housing Solution.”
With demand growing for skilled workers across the industry, the campus will be used by hundreds of students and staff. Programmes are available in Construction, Electrical Engineering, Painting and Plastering, Plumbing, Gasfitting and Drain Laying, and Youth Guarantee Level 2 all in a single NZMA hub. It will add to NZMA’s enviable reputation for delivering work-ready skills, from top level qualified tutors who know the industry inside-out.
NZMA Chief Executive, Mark Worsop says, “With New Zealand’s current construction boom there is real demand for skilled tradespeople, and we can address this shortfall with quality training and job placement.”
He added, “We’re really proud to be developing young people in these important and booming trade arenas. This campus will be an important training hub in Auckland, and we’re working closely with construction industry companies to place our graduates in sustainable employment”.
There is no better way to learn about the construction industry than to do it yourself, and NZMA is giving people building experience they’d find hard to get anywhere else. NZMA also have a team of Careers specialists who assist students in finding the right job.
According to a recent Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) report, construction investment growth is set to peak in 2020 and will increase requirements for construction-related occupations until at least the end of 2022.
Employers are facing an increasing skills shortage with overall construction staff demand in New Zealand set to increase by 11 percent by 2022. This means around 56,000 new employees will be needed with approximately half of that demand centring around Auckland’s construction industry. (reference https://www.michaelpage.co.nz/advice/market-insights/industry-reports/new-zealand-s-construction-boom-means-big-demand-talent
Every area of construction is now mostly considered a skills shortage. From labourers to carpenters, plumbers to electricians, site supervisors to quantity surveyors, and engineers – skilled staff are hard to find.
With an easily accessible NZMA Trades Campus in South Auckland, the entire community will benefit. With strong numbers of Maori and Pasifika students, as well as those who have recently moved to New Zealand, getting a head-start on their careers will be easier with a campus of this calibre.
