Industry turned out in force to witness SkillsTech opened its 12.9 million dollar state of the art Heavy Vehicle Training Centre located at Acacia Ridge on Friday 13th August 2010.

Federal Member for Moreton, Mr Graham Perrett and State Member for Sunnybank, Ms Judy Spence were on hand with SkillsTech Australia Institute Director, Ms Mary Campbell to officially open the centre. Among the officiating party was CVIAQ CEO, Mr Brett Wright, who received much praise from the SkillsTech staff for CVIAQ's long involvement, support and technical advice (through its Service Managers Council) during the developmental stages of the training centre. 

Mr Wright said that back in 2006 CVIAQ presented an extensive proposal to the then Deputy Director General, Mr Chris Robinson, for a new training facility for our industry. The proposal was the culmination of much hard work by the membership who clearly identified that even under modest growth projections the existing SkillsTech facilities wouldn't cope and in fact had almost reached capacity.

The purpose built facility provides workshop areas and classrooms equipped with the latest technologyto deliver pre-apprenticeship, apprenticeship, traineeship and post trade training.

SkillsTech Business Manager, Mr Chris Kroehn, predicts that 2011 will see 900 students training in the building. This will include 450 students in road transport and another 450 students in diesel fitting and hydraulics training. It is expected that this number will significantly grow over the next five years.

In his speech, Mr Wright expressed his gratitude to the Federal and State Governments for their support in funding the facility and to SkillsTech for recognising the importance of industry's needs. A 10 million dollar federal grant was obtained through the "Training Infrastructure Investment for Tomorrow" program and "Better Tafe Facilities" program. The Queensland State Government contributed 2.9 million dollars under the Queenslands Skills Plan.

Mr Kroehn added that the twin building to the Heavy Vehicle Training Centre, the light vehicle training facility will commence construction in October 2010. This will then consolidate all automotive training in Brisbane in the one location.