Barrie Construction Association Report staff writer
Site Tours hosted by the Barrie Construction Association (BCA) allow students to get out of the classroom and exposes them to the realities of the jobsite.
The association started hosting the Construction Days, geared towards students and guidance counsellors, in 2018 after another association discontinued their program.
“When they sold it, we purchased all of their PPE which contained bins full of work boots of various sizes,” explained Alison Smith, executive director of the BCA. “We bought our own hard hats and high visibility vests. We’ve got enough for 40 to 50 students. When students sign up, they don’t need to have their own PPE, we have that for them.”
The day is held twice a year in May and in October. In May BCA hosts students from the Simcoe County District School Board, the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board and high school guidance counsellors. In October they take students from the high skills major school and the French board. Since the students have to be 16 to legally be on a jobsite, they are typically in Grade 11 or 12. The tours typically take place at both ICI and civil sites in and around the Barrie area.
“We partner with the Simcoe County Heavy Construction Association,” said Smith. “We pick a commercial site and a civil site. The civil site would be road work, pipes in the ground, bridges. For commercial, we typically take them to a condominium.”
Some of the sites toured over the years include the County Road 88 Bridge Reconstruction, the Sunnidale Road Bridge Replacement and the Anne Street Bridge Replacement.
“It’s really cool because they could be driving under the Anne Street Bridge and they can say, ‘I stood on that when it was just being built’ so it’s a good memory for them,” said Smith.
The ICI projects are really interesting for students to visit as well, said Smith. A few years ago students and guidance counsellors toured LakeVu Condos on Lakeside Terrace in Barrie.
“They see so many trades when you take them to a condo that’s being built,” said Smith. “Each floor has different trades so they’re exposed to much more than their imagination could ever dream of – it’s not just electricians or plumbers. We can list off almost 100 trades going through a condominium like insulation pipes, sprinkler fitter, things you don’t typically think about.”
Since the program is meant to be educational, the BCA sets up a panel discussion as well so participants are able to ask questions.
“We usually have the experts of the BCA and heavy construction and someone from Georgian College,” said Smith. “They have a lot of questions about the pathways into the trades so we try and fill them in on that information and it really makes a huge impact.”
Typically about 30 students attend the tours and it’s a great opportunity to get to talk to them on the actual sites where construction is taking place, Smith said. Although there may only be a handful of students in the group who are interested in pursuing a career in the trades, having the guidance counsellors attend is a game changer.
“When you get the guidance counsellors, they are then taking that knowledge back to all of their schools so it really is very impactful,” she noted.
One of the challenges the program has encountered over the years is transportation. The school boards are responsible for securing bussing to get students to and from the sites and unfortunately they have had to cancel the event a few times due to unavailability.
Aside from getting to tour the sites, the program provides a number of benefits to participants.
“It just opens their eyes to all the possibilities they can pursue,” said Smith. “We can give them good advice about how to get your resume noticed. For example, instead of just emailing, you need to go to the establishments shake someone’s hand and look them in the eye, that’s the way to get your foot in the door, not just sitting behind your computer emailing resumes off. We do help with placements as well. If they know they want to be a sprinkler fitter we will directly send their resumes to our sprinkler fitter members so we can be the liaison to try and get them employed once they’re ready.”
For more information on the program, visit www.barrieca.com.