TAFE’s building a better community

TAFE SA Director Peter Nolan is excited about the new TAFE training facility at Tonsley, saying it’s innovative and collaborative.

As Director, Building and Construction for the Tonsley campus, Peter has been a key player in ensuring the centre was ready to receive its first students from January 2014.

When fully operational the campus will host 800 students a day, with an anticipated 6,500 students enrolled in training courses each year.

TAFE is one of the inaugural tenants in the Sustainable Industries Education Centre (SIE C), part of the refurbished Mitsubishi Main Assembly Building.

The campus at Tonsley consolidates all building and construction training in inner metropolitan Adelaide and, according to Peter, ‘it’s a beauty’.

“Tonsley is an excellent location because of its emphasis on sustainability, innovation and advanced manufacturing,” Peter said.

“I don’t think you’d find a better training centre anywhere in Australia.

“People come in here and their jaws drop. The scale is massive – as big as two Adelaide Ovals. It has tremendous capacity to train current building and construction students and adapt to future changes in construction technology.

“It’s a first-rate campus, boasting the latest technology and digital teaching aids. All our training sessions are recorded and can be accessed via TAFE Tube.

“We’ve even got our own super mobile App to navigate the site.”

Peter says TAFE SA is partnering with not-for-profit and community organisations and government to provide pre-employment training for people wanting to enter the building and construction industry.

“We have formed close relationships with local schools to give school-leavers in the southern suburbs a better understanding of the industry,” he said.

“This will enable them to move easily into vocational training and employment.”

Peter is pleased that the campus blends into the existing surroundings while creating ‘a great learning environment’.

“It’s a project that has exceeded everyone’s expectations,” he said.