CPIT Trades Trainees Roll Up Their Sleeves

A year-long Habitat for Humanity project to repair uninsured earthquake-damaged homes will get off the ground tomorrow with the help of CPIT trades students.

The 16 plumbing students, who commenced their training just six weeks ago, will roll up their sleeves to assist with a church hall kitchen upgrade at the Baptist Church on Breeze’s Road, where the project will be based. The church has also offered two unused houses on its grounds, which will be refurbished to house the Habitat for Humanity volunteers.

Paul Galbraith, Habitat for Humanity Project Manager for Christchurch Rebuild, said that teams of six to 10 volunteers with a mixed skill base will each spend two weeks repairing homes in quake-damaged east Christchurch. However, getting the kitchen facilities and accommodation ready for the volunteers was proving challenging.

“Trying to get hold of plumbers in the present circumstances, you might as well go out and find some hens’ teeth,” he said.

A solution was soon found, however, after Galbraith approached his friend Craig Wenmonth, South Island Coordinator for Apprenticeship Training Trust. Wenmonth, who built houses with Habitat for Humanity in Samoa last year, works closely with CPIT’s Trades Innovation Institute. “Everyone is flat out in the industry,” Wenmouth said. “So I thought, ‘how about some experience for pre-trade students?’ CPIT staff jumped at the opportunity.”

The project fits well with CPIT’s mandate of community involvement and the practical focus of the training according to CPIT Trades Innovation Institute Head of School Neville Ward. “Our pre-trades programmes give students the chance to work on real projects such as our relocatable houses, so we were only too happy to respond to the Habitat for Humanity project. It’s good experience for our students and there is the added bonus of knowing that we are supporting the community and helping some families who find themselves in substandard housing after the earthquakes.”

During their two days on the job, the students will learn about Habitat for Humanity’s goal to eliminate poverty housing globally. Habitat for Humanity is a not-for-profit Christian organisation working in partnership with people of goodwill and families in housing need. In Christchurch, priority will be given to the disabled, elderly and single parents who did not have insurance and cannot afford to repair their homes.

Galbraith said Habitat for Humanity was working with the Ministry of Social Development and Christchurch City Council to ensure that recipients of housing repairs were genuinely in need and that their land was suitable for long term use. He acknowledged industry support of donated materials and labour and stressed that Habitat for Humanity was not competing with the building industry but supporting those who could not otherwise get work done.

Galbaith said he hoped to build an on-going relationship with CPIT’s Trades Innovation Institute and would next request student assistance with house painting. CPIT is a leading provider of skills-based training and has increased the capacity of its range of trades programmes to meet the demand for tradespeople that will accompany the rebuild of Christchurch.

ENDS

© Scoop Media