BURNABY, B.C. — Concert Properties will be recognized by the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) for its trades training support.
BCIT announced that a new Trades and Technology Centre being planned for its Burnaby campus will bear the name of the Vancouver-based real-estate developer to honour the company’s commitment to supporting trades training at the school.
Once completed, the Concert Properties Centre for Trades and Technology aims to push innovation in skilled trades and engineering, applied learning, research and industry collaboration and build capacity for 700 additional students.
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 to the project.
“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, in a statement. “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.
Podmore has a long history of supporting BCIT trades students.
In 2002, he and industry partners launched and provided funding for BCIT’s Trades Discovery Program, which has helped people across the province explore and pursue careers in different construction trades for 20 years.
Since the inaugural charity golf tournament was held in 1995, the annual event, and other initiatives led by Concert, have contributed over $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.
Podmore has also led the INSPIRE Campaign as chair since 2018, helping to bring over $100 million in funding for the TTC and BCIT, which is the leading and largest provider of trades education in B.C.
“The Concert Properties Centre for Trades and Technology will help meet the demand for an estimated 85,000 new trades jobs expected over the next 10 years in B.C.,” says Paul McCullough, interim president of BCIT. “It will set a new standard for applied education, research and collaboration – where together we will advance education, industry and society.”
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