Phase Two of Conestoga College’s Skilled Trades Campus will welcome students in the fall of 2026. The structure will join the school’s Phase One building as the college plans to contribute more skilled-trades workers to the labourforce.Supplied/Diamond Schmitt
A skilled-trades, postsecondary campus in Cambridge, Ont., is set to become one of the biggest of its kind in Canada as demand for tradespeople surges across the country.
Phase Two of Conestoga College’s Skilled Trades Campus, now under construction, is on track to welcome students in the fall of 2026. Once complete, the 221,671-square-foot building will join the Phase One structure, a 335,000-square-foot facility that opened in fall 2022.
Canada’s labour requirements
The planned $155-million investment for Phase Two of the campus, designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects, is intended to support the growing need for skilled-trades positions and to attract a broader, more diverse student population.
“Estimates are that we’re looking at approximately 700,000 skilled-trades workers who are expected to retire in the next few years,” says Suzanne Moyer, dean of Conestoga’s School of Trades and Apprenticeship. “Conestoga has always been committed to skilled-trades training, but we just felt the need to do our part to contribute to that pipeline.”
The labour shortage is well-documented in Canada. According to a 2024 Statistics Canada report, more than 245,100 construction workers are expected to retire by 2032, while the number of apprenticeship holders between the ages of 25 and 64 has either stagnated or decreased in construction, mechanic and repair technologies, and precision production. The expected retirement of construction tradespeople means the industry will need to recruit 351,800 new workers by 2033, according to national industry organization BuildForce Canada.
To account for the gap, governments and institutions are investing in promoting the skilled trades. In 2024, the federal government announced a $74.6-million investment for recruitment and training skilled-trades programs, while Humber Polytechnic in Toronto has also expanded its Centre for Skilled Trades and Technology.
Conestoga’s Skilled Trades Campus is an ‘evolution’ for the college as it brings the majority of the school’s skilled-trades and apprenticeship programs — currently offered at isolated campuses across southern Ontario — to one location.Supplied/Diamond Schmitt
An ‘evolution’ for Conestoga College
The second phase of Conestoga’s Skilled Trades Campus is a two-storey building that’s part of a multiyear project. It’s designed to consolidate the majority of the college’s skilled-trades and apprenticeship programs – currently offered at isolated campuses across Southern Ontario – into one location.
“It’s a real evolution for Conestoga,” explains Mike Szabo, principal at Diamond Schmitt. “The college previously had a number of facilities, which were generally repurposed industrial buildings, distributed throughout the Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge areas.”
The first phase of Conestoga’s Skilled Trades Campus, designed by WalterFedy and Moriyama Teshima Architects, is home to a majority of the college’s construction and industrial trade programs, with 50 per cent of the building dedicated to hands-on workshops and labs. The second phase will bring many of the remaining trades programs at other sites under one roof.
Mr. Szabo says the second phase is a shift toward the “creation of a community.” Since Conestoga is interested in improving the student experience, an athletics facility, fitness area and e-sports centre were built next to the structure’s main entrance. “To attract and retain students on campus, you need to really foster that community experience and social life,” he says.
When designing the campus, the architect wanted the structure to act as a ‘living lab,’ where students are able to see the full range of construction techniques used, such as reinforced concrete, structural steel and mass timber.Supplied/Diamond Schmitt
A living lab
When designing the structure, the architect wanted the building to act as a “living lab” for students to see the full range of construction techniques used, says Mr. Szabo, referencing reinforced concrete, structural steel and mass timber.
He adds there’s a long, serpentine canopy with wood decking that links the Phase One and Two buildings. “Conestoga has a masonry program, so the base of the building is all brick masonry to link to that.”
The building’s living-lab concept was extended to its interiors, too – both through the construction materials used and its sustainable design features, including triple-glazing and radiant-floor heating in all workshops. “If we are skilled-trades leaders, we want to actually demonstrate the highest level of performance,” Mr. Szabo says. “The heating is on the floor, so while students are working, they’re not on a cold, hard concrete floor.”
The building is also configured in a way that matches its purpose. The ground floor features high-bay workshops with teaching areas, while the second floor is home to conventional classrooms.
The toolbelt generation
As Conestoga upgrades its Skilled Trades Campus, the college is seeing more Gen Z students enroll in its School of Trades and Apprenticeship program. “That’s been fairly consistent for us,” Ms. Moyer says. “Over the last four to five years, 70 per cent of our postsecondary students in the trades were 24 or under.”
Gen Z – those born between 1997 and 2012 – are gravitating toward skilled-trades jobs and apprenticeship programs. In 2022, more than 81,000 Canadians registered in apprenticeship programs, an 11.6-per-cent increase from a year earlier, according to Statistics Canada. At the same time, 18- to 25-year-olds accounted for almost 25 per cent of all new hires of U.S. skilled-trades jobs in 2024, even though the group only accounted for 14 per cent of the overall working population, according to data from payroll company Gusto.
There are many factors that have led to this shift, including a belief that the hands-on nature of skilled-trades jobs makes it less likely AI can replace them. Gen Z workers have also expressed interest in the ability to earn money and start work straight out of high school, learn new skills and pursue a career they enjoy.
Calling jills of all trades
With the growing demand for skilled trades, there’s also a pressing need to challenge outdated stereotypes and promote these careers with women. That’s partly why Conestoga College offers female-specific programs, such as its Engineering, Technology and Trades for Women (ETT4W) initiative and its daylong Jill of All Trades event. The latter, founded and trademarked in 2014, introduces teenagers between Grades 9 and 12 to the skilled trades.
By 2026, Jill of All Trades plans to expand to 35 locations across Canada and the U.S., offering more than 100 events.
“We bring in about 325 high school-aged women for a day to participate in the Jill of All Trades program,” Ms. Moyer says. “We have waitlists for the program every year.”