Roofing Skills Training Institute

Conestoga Roofing continues to follow the Progress

Grand opening ceremony May 25, 2010

 Now comes the hard part getting the course curriculum, and their content of the courses which will be offered at the training institute.

 If you would like to register for this classes in 2011 please contact :

Employment & Training Consultant
Ministry of Training, Colleges & Universities
4275 King St. E., Suite 200
Kitchener, ON  N2P 2E9
Main:  519-653-5758
Fax:  519-653-2460

 Conestoga Roofing Follows the Progress of the new roofing skills training centre set to open in May 2010

The new Roofing Skills Training Institute is currently under construction at Conestoga College's Construction Centre of Excellence located at their Waterloo Campus. The 12,400 square-foot-training centre, 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.

The Roofing Skills Training Institute, which will be open in 2010, is a partnership between Conestoga College and Ontario Industrial Roofing Contractors Association (OIRCA). Provincial and federal grants totalling $1M are earmarked for this project, with the rest coming from industry donations, cash and in-kind contributions. If you would like to contribute to the Roofing Skills Training Institute, please contact: Dave Walden at 519-623-7411.  Dave is the President of the Conestoga Roofing and Education Committee Chair with OIRCA.

"The days of unskilled roofing labourers are gone," says Walden. "They must now have a working knowledge of WHMIS, fall-arrest safety procedures, and technical specifications of new roofing products and equipment."

This new training facility is designed to serve the entire roofing industry in Ontario; roofing contractors, manufacturer/supplier and the design/consulting community.

The objective is to develop the province’s most advanced roofing skills training facility for all sectors of construction, says Andre Beaudry, vice-president of development and alumni, Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning.

Conestoga College is rapidly becoming Ontario’s largest source for skilled trades training. The Roofing Skills Training Centre will not only attract young people, but also provide people who have been laid off in certain sectors to learn a skilled trade, as well as new immigrants seeking a viable career.

The Roofing Skills Training Institute will:

Develop and deliver programs designed to support new and emerging technologies, construction practices and materials.

In a report by Dr. John Tibbits, President of Conestoga College, he states:

“Ontario’s roofing industry is currently facing a significant challenge due to the lack of skilled trades people entering this important profession.

One of the barriers to attracting quality recruits to the industry has been the lack of a post secondary training framework and facility for skills development in Waterloo Region. Currently, the Province of Ontario does not require that roofing tradespeople earn a certification to work in this field, despite the growing complexity of this trade in relation to new materials, construction technologies as well as health and safety concerns.

This multi-disciplinary trade, which blends principles from design, architecture, and engineering, requires highly trained individuals to master modern project delivery. It further requires a significant bridging of knowledge from current practitioners to newly trained professionals, who are well versed in the use of the latest materials and technologies.”

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.