The new trades and technology centre at British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) will be called the Concert Properties Centre for Trades & Technology. The centre to be developed at its Burnaby campus will bear the name of Vancouver-based real-estate developer Concert Properties in recognition of the company’s long-standing commitment to supporting trades training at the post-secondary institution.
Once completed, the centre will provide a space for innovation in skilled trades and engineering, applied learning, research and industry collaboration, and build capacity for 700 additional students which will alleviate trades training waitlists and help to build up a healthy talent pool in B.C. The centre will also anchor the new and renewed nine-building Trades and Technology Complex (TTC), under development at BCIT, featuring a covered works yard, simulation-based learning areas, maker spaces, and power, welding and construction areas.
Concert donated $7.5 million as the lead donor for the centre, which represents a key phase of BCIT’s INSPIRE Campaign that brought together government, industry partners, donors and alumni to usher in a new era of applied education at BCIT. It will also serve to bolster BCIT’s reputation as a future-forward learning community positioned at the intersection of innovation, technology and industry partnership.
“We’re extremely humbled and honoured to see our longstanding commitment to trades training programs and BCIT recognized in this way,” says David Podmore, OBC, Concert co-founder and CEO. “This centre and these programs are key to equipping diverse, hardworking Canadians with the skills to secure well-paying jobs in construction, and we remain committed to working with our industry partners to find practical solutions to challenges that affect us all.”
In the mid 1990s, Podmore first brought together industry leaders to address a shortage of skilled trades labour and subsequently founded Concert’s Corporate Annual Charity Golf Tournament to raise funds for trades-training programs.
Since then, the annual event, and other initiatives led by Concert, have contributed more than $2.4 million to the Trades Discovery Program. With the $7.5 million donation towards the new centre, Concert’s total financial commitment to BCIT over the past quarter-century has reached nearly $10 million.