The new $14 million trades training centre in Tokoroa has been gifted the name Pūkenga Rau.
The new $14 million trades training centre in Tokoroa has been gifted the name Pūkenga Rau.
A blessing has been held at a new $14 million trades training centre in Tokoroa that aims to provide growth and investment in South Waikato.
This purpose-built facility for Toi Ohomai | Te Pūkenga was gifted the name Pūkenga Rau, the institute said in a statement.
“Pūkenga derives from personal skill and ability development, while Rau is a reference to the many people of South Waikato as well as rarau, the acquiring of knowledge, and Raukawa, the people of the rohe,” Toi Ohomai said.
The building would soon be operational, with kaimahi [staff] and ākonga [students] able to utilise the facility in semester two.
The project had been led by the South Waikato Investment Fund Trust (Swift), and Swift chief executive Amanda Hema said the centre showcased the South Waikato community’s dedication to education and training.
She said the genesis of the centre was in 2007 when local engineers gathered to consider a collective response to staff shortages.
Toi Ohomai legacy institute Waiariki tailored a qualification and programme, with equipment donated by businesses and the council and local high schools providing students.
The centre was blessed this morning.
Construction, carpentry and automotive industries followed suit, establishing pre-trade courses as local qualifications in 2008. Impressed by these initiatives, the Ministry of Youth Development gave South Waikato District Council a national award for commitment to youth training and education in 2008.
“Clearly, those industry leaders recognised the power of collaboration and the potential of our local rangatahi [youth]. The large workshops in the new centre reflect those sectors that partnered so early on with trade training in our district,” Hema said.
“Moving to today, this wonderful facility will also cater beyond the trades. Swift is delighted that under the watch of Toi Ohomai | Te Pūkenga, opportunities for more training and broader educational offerings will be made available to our community.”
Hema said Raukawa Charitable Trust and the council had been powerful advocates for the facility and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s regional economic development and investment unit Kanoa invested about $11m in the development.
Trust Waikato also partnered to fund the centre.
While Toi Ohomai | Te Pūkenga is the major tenant, Hema said Swift would also be housed in the new building, with expressions of interest being taken from other businesses.
Toi Ohomai | Te Pūkenga faculty dean Bart Vosse said it was fantastic to see this building come to fruition.
“It is a wonderful asset for the Tokoroa community, and we are pleased we can continue to provide quality educational opportunities in a first-class facility.”
He acknowledged the collaborative work to get to this point and said it was “exciting that ākonga and kaimahi who had been based across three Tokoroa locations will now be able to come together under one roof”.
Although the building would be used from semester two, the official opening would be held at a later date.
