The construction sector is booming and EIT Trades Training students are getting on-site training at a prefabrication facility in Hastings.

MSR Construction has been building transportable prefabricated buildings for over 15 years under its Cottages NZ brand. 

For the last eight years over 400 EIT trades students have built more than 45 one and two bedroom houses which have then been marketed and sold by Cottages NZ. The funds raised have enabled the purchase of building materials for the next building.

Cottages NZ founder John Roil said the trades training initiative with EIT has been a huge success, giving students a “real life” project that they are incredibly proud to complete as part of their studies.

“You can only learn so much from a text book, whereas the trades training school gives the students a hands-on approach to learning and the students are incredibly proud to see a building take shape and then be lived in by family.

Mr Roil expects the budding builders, electricians and plumbers to be in hot demand by local employers due to the current construction boom and the commitment by the Government to build 186 new state houses over the next four years in Hastings and Napier.

EIT Head of School, Trades Todd Rogers said students are currently putting the finishing touches to six which have been under construction across the East Coast.

“Trades students are practical hands on learners, having the opportunity to build a house from start to finish is the perfect model for trade training. Employers have access to graduates that have completed a house build and know the theory behind it all,” Mr Rogers said.

Last month Statistics New Zealand released figures showing 55 building consents were granted for new dwellings in Hawke’s Bay last month, worth a combined value of $23m.

That was up from 46 consents (worth $15m) in July last year, and up from $16m in June this year.

A total of $136m worth of new dwellings have now been consented since the start of 2018.

“There is a shortage of trades people, a strong demand for new builds in the residential, industrial and commercial property markets. These students are the future of our industry, they will not only become tradesman and business owners, but also property owners in their own right.