A tender has been awarded by North Perth council to begin construction of the new North Perth Regional Technology and Skills Learning Hub.
Mayor Todd Kasenberg says AV Design and Equipment will begin overhauling the Elma Memorial Community Centre in Atwood to accommodate the new classroom, but he adds that many businesses in North Perth want to get involved beyond those walls.
"While we're creating a physical footprint in Atwood at the EMCC in building a world class classroom, there are many stakeholders in North Perth who are offering up space or services, so we can kind of have a distributed learning environment."
Kasenberg says the hub will serve as a way to retain youth and create more opportunities for workers of all ages to gain necessary skills in the tech and trades sectors. He also says it must be considerate to the existing space.
"We've had to consider that we don't want to compromise the hall capacity in any significant way, because many significant community events happen there. So we're building a classroom and creating and installing technologies that are highly portable, and yet ones that give us probably what will be the finest classroom environment in Southwestern Ontario."
With the initial tender approved, AV Design will begin an initial tech install at the site.
"We approved a budget to AV Design of $325,000 for audio-visual, sound, internet and connected equipment. There's more to come, obviously we're going to make some physical renovations to the EMCC."
Kasenberg says more RFPs will be going out for tender in the near future.
