OIRCA Partners With Conestoga College To Build A Roofing Skills Training Centre

The Ontario Industrial Roofing Contractors Association (OIRCA) is very pleased and proud to announce that we have entered into an agreement with Conestoga College* to develop a roofing skills training institute at their Construction Centre of Excellence, Waterloo Campus.  The 12,400 square foot facility has been made possible through provincial and federal grants totaling $1M.

The training center, the first of its kind in Ontario, will deliver all aspects of roofing specific training including apprenticeship, occupational health and safety, skills upgrading, construction management and new technologies to mention a few.

One of the major attractions to partnering with Conestoga College is their ability to recruit young people, unemployed adults and immigrants to the Waterloo campus, which is devoted to the construction trades.  In the years ahead, the roofing industry will be looking for new workers to enter our trade.  Conestoga College will become a major portal to meet that demand.  OIRCA hopes that the Conestoga College success will become a model or template for additional training facilities around the province.

Plans are to fast-track construction through a design-build process.  An RFP will be released in July and we hope to break ground in the fall.  Leading up to that launch, a great deal must be accomplished and in a short time period.  Of paramount importance is the raising of additional funding required to balance the budget.  Industry donations, cash and in-kind are needed to make this dream a reality.  In the weeks ahead, both the OIRCA and Conestoga College will be approaching industry leaders looking for that support.  We are confident that OIRCA members will lead the way in raising the necessary funds.

This facility will service the entire roofing industry in Ontario; roofing contractors, manufacturer/suppliers and the design/consulting community will all benefit.  When OIRCA planned to build the Ontario Roofing Training Institute (ORTI) a few years back, the industry was very giving.  We look for that generosity once again.  This time a training center will be built. 

Conestoga College will be receiving provincial and federal grants totaling almost $100M.  The college is expected to increase in size by fifty percent.  A large part of that growth is their Waterloo construction skills trade campus, which includes our roofing center along with a new HVAC school, both following on the heels of the new Masonry Training Facility already up and running next door to our roofing site.