AGC Training takes its construction programme to new level by moving the classroom to schools

Rangitikei College students on the AGC Training construction course spend day three of the build in Marton standing the wall frames of the three-bedroom house. Photo / Supplied

AGC Training has taken its carpentry and construction programme to a new level by moving the classroom to schools.

AGC Training has been working with local schools teaching construction for over 15 years now, but a little over 12 months ago it began discussions with several schools on a new concept in delivering construction to college students.

This involved emulating the three-bedroom house build that is done with adult students on AGC's own construction site in Okoia at an on-site location on school grounds with their students.

Rangitikei College in Marton was one of the first to take up this offer, convinced it would support and further extend their already-successful technology department's construction focus.

It would allow groups of up to 10 students each day to participate in the construction of a three-bedroom house to lockup stage before it was trucked off to its final destination by Brittons House Movers.

AGC Training chief executive Peter Macdonald said it began with the establishment of the construction pad, then the area is fenced much like a building site with 2m temporary panels, and a shipping container is landed onto the site for the tools and equipment.

"This started late in 2020 with an anticipated start in early 2021 once all of the necessary paperwork was completed by the school and AGC Training allowing us access to the schools grounds to undertake the construction," Macdonald said.

"This was all finalised during the first term and then the school could start the process of putting down the construction pad. In March 2021, when we jointly identified that the construction pad could take some time, it was decided that the Rangitikei students would bus to our construction site in Okoia for the short term to allow them to get started straight away.

"This was what we undertook from late March through to the end of term 2, and starting on day 1 of term 3 the students were building in Marton on the school grounds for the entire school community to see.

"The students have been part of three separate builds at the Whanganui site so have had the opportunity to see buildings at various stages of completion. This has meant that we have been able to expedite the build in Marton to save some time and hopefully complete the build by the end of the year.

"Our vision has always been for this project that students start a build from scratch and see the completed house trucked off at the end of the year with a picture in front of the Brittons truck underneath the completed House."
Rangitikei College is not the only school that sees this as a way of providing real-life learning to their students on the school grounds. In term 2 a build was also started at Waitara High School.

"The benefits of undertaking this type of activity on the school grounds is massive. In the case of Rangitikei College we gain 90 minutes of learning everyday that's not lost in travel from the school to Whanganui and the students' peers and those technology students and others who wonder what a career in construction might be like are able to see it on the school grounds first hand.

"We also hope that other subjects are able to utilise the learning opportunities that exists when building - English, there is a comprehensive plan pack full of detailed information that a builder has to be able to read and decipher along with the complex legislation, then maths, physics, design, technology and the sciences, including chemistry are also involved."

Students who graduate from these programmes get scholarships to continue their carpentry study full time with AGC Training once they leave school or gain apprenticeships locally.

House moving