Auckland Council’s Te Auaunga Awa project team is celebrating the achievement of eight young people this week who are completing a construction training course and getting ready to start apprenticeships.
The project is focused on making improvements for the Mt Roskill community, and one of the goals of the project was to provide employment and training to young people from the area.
Auckland Council, Fulton Hogan, Unitec, Puketāpapa Local Board and Youth Connections collaborated to create a fantastic opportunity for young people by offering enrolment in a construction course for free, with the chance for employment on completion of their studies.
Puketāpapa Local Board member Shail Kaushal says, “We’re hoping this example will draw out more opportunities across Auckland, and get more young people securing good jobs."
About the course
Eleven trainees are graduating with Level 2 Multiskills Building Construction Certificates from Unitec. For the last 17 weeks they have been training in multi-skills construction, driver licensing and traffic control, and have visited construction sites and employers.
The trainees attended an interview and assessment day with Fulton Hogan on 10 November, and eight were made conditional job offers. Four of these were for permanent contracts and will be based on Te Auaunga Awa development, and four were for casual contracts.
Jonathan Laban is one of the students hired by Fulton Hogan. He says, “I had left school and was waiting for an apprenticeship when I heard about the course. It was a great learning environment at Unitec and a good group of people.
"Now I can’t wait to start work – I wish it was tomorrow!”
Global Lighthouse (who have provided mentoring for the trainees), will also support the eight as they move into employment, and will work with those who did not make it to the Fulton Hogan interviews on accessing alternative pathways, such as Te Whangai Trust.
Tom Mansell, from Auckland Council's Healthy Waters team, says, “It’s great to see the journey everyone has been on through this programme. It has laid the foundations for future infrastructure projects to have greater social impact."
Congratulations!
The project team would like to congratulate the following team of trainees on their achievement this year: Ana Loholoho, Sebastian Derksen, Alex Sutherland, Shona Isaia, Samuelu Matai, Jonathan Laban, Madison Tongakilo, Oscar Sharpe, Nathan Hooper, Victor Edgar and Honey May Wilkinson.
About Te Auaunga Awa
Two reserves are being transformed to stop flooding, restore the natural ecology of the awa (stream), and enable development.
The works include replacing a concrete stormwater channel and underground pipes with a wider, naturally flowing waterway plus thousands of native trees. This will create Auckland's longest uninterrupted urban stream. Plans for the reserves include new cycle paths, walking trails, play spaces, a community fale, outdoor classrooms and a beginners' BMX track.
Auckland Council’s Healthy Waters unit are delivering this project along with the Parks and Community Empowerment teams.
