$39 million TAFE campus opens in Armadale WA

Western Australia’s newest TAFE campus, a $39 million multi-storey building in the heart of Armadale’s town centre has opened, offering early childhood education and care (ECEC) courses as well as business, community services, education support and IT. 

 

Officially opened by Premier Roger Cook and Training and Workforce Development Minister Simone McGurk in mid August, South Metropolitan TAFE campus on Church Avenue will deliver world-class training to students in Perth’s outer south-eastern suburbs, offering a variety of Fee Free and Lower Fees, Local Skills courses.

 

It includes state-of-the-art simulated childcare facilities for early learning education, specialist training areas for information technology and emerging industries, and classrooms and computer laboratories for business and general education courses. The campus is also equipped with a modern student hub, a creche and outdoor terraces offering local students a comprehensive training experience in their local community.

 

“This investment in new infrastructure ensures the Armadale community has access to training in modern, world-class facilities ­— such as simulated childcare centres — to get them job-ready,” Ms McGurk said.

 

The new Armadale TAFE campus will also create a vibrant community hub close to public transport, shops, and cafés, making training locally a more accessible option. An onsite Jobs and Skills Centre will connect the local community with training and employment opportunities, while the campus itself will consolidate multiple vocational training facilities into a standalone training hub with almost double the training capacity of the previous facilities.

 

The expanded student capacity comes after publicly funded vocational course enrolments reached a new record high of over 153,800, off the back of the WA Government’s fee free and low fee TAFE courses for in-demand areas such as construction, engineering, logistics, electrical trades, ECEC and community services.

 

Training initiatives such as the Vocational Education and Training Delivered to Secondary Students program, which gives secondary school students an opportunity to gain a vocational qualification as part of their WA Certificate of Education will also benefit from the consolidation.

 

The campus was designed by Fremantle architectural practice Armstrong Collective and built by local construction company PS Structures, employing more than 500 workers throughout construction, including apprentices and trainees.

 

“The opening of the new Armadale TAFE campus today is the result of the State Government’s ongoing efforts to provide local training opportunities for local workers,” Armadale MLA Tony Buti said.

 

“Young school leavers, job seekers and mature-aged career changers alike in Perth’s fast-growing south metropolitan corridor will now benefit from accessing world-class training opportunities, which will set them up for rewarding careers.

 

Learn more about the campus here.  Image source; Roger Cook MP.