Building great career starts

FIVE deluxe beach-side cabins made by local TAFE students were handed over to Corrimal Tourist Park last week.

The cabins are the fruit of a year of hard work for the pre-apprentice TAFE students, built through a long-standing partnership between TAFE Illawarra Institute and Wollongong City Council, which owns the park.

The five demountable cabins were constructed by carpentry and joinery students on the grounds of Wollongong TAFE over the course of the year.

About a month ago the buildings were transported to their new home, a stones’s throw from beautiful Corrimal Beach.

The students even built the foundations for the cabins and added the finishing touches to them on site, completing the work not long before the official handover last week.

Wollongong City Council has recognised the park as a vital part of the city’s economy and the new cabins form part of a Council strategy to upgrade the park and increase its revenue.

Ward 2 Councillor Val Zanotto accepted the cabins on behalf of council, and applauded the local TAFE for its commitment to training locals in areas where their skills will be needed.

“It’s wonderful to see our local TAFE is promoting those skills we so desperatley need in the Illawarra,” he said.

Wollongong TAFE teacher Patrick Rawnsley said the program has a great success rate for students finishing their apprenticeships.

He said most of the youngsters working on cabins were straight out of school and hadn’t been able to find a job.

Now that the year’s work is done some of the pre-apprenticeship students have already found employment, he said.

One of the students, Andrew Dawes said the experience helped him and the others involved to gain real skills for the workplace, and gave him the opportunity to give back to the community.

“It actually develops your practical skills, unlike if you’re just sitting in a classroom all day,” he said.

Four of the new cabins have a spa, along with dining areas, lounge rooms and outside verandas with barbecue facilities - all of which look out over Corrimal Beach.

One of the cabins was specially designed to make it accessible for wheelchair users - with an access ramp, adjustable sink and roomier bathrooms.