Sustainable Industries Education Centre – TAFE SA

SIEC is the most innovative and advanced of its kind in Australia. It provides world-class, energy efficient, trade training infrastructure for TAFE SA and partners. Building construction and renewable energy trades collaborate under one roof so students can learn and work together as they would in the industry.

Project Description (no more than 350 words)

The SIEC is a key component of the Tonsley Park development that provides the facilities, infrastructure, and opportunities for creative collaboration between industry, research and education, within an environment conducive to clustering of manufacturing and technology-based firms.

A tripartite educational model brings together TAFE SA, Flinders University, industry partners and private training providers, which broadens and diversifies student pathways and creates opportunities for innovative enterprise.

The design process was highly collaborative, with NLE | RR drawing on the expertise of a selected group of highly motivated, forward thinking TAFE lecturers as well as the involvement of the SIEC Advisory Board that included representatives from associated industry and employment specialists, universities, Department of Further Education, Employment Science and Technology (DFEEST) and TAFE SA.

The creation of an innovative ‘green’ workforce requires a new approach to education and training – an approach that looks beyond the traditional vocational silos and modes of delivery and focuses on:

• inter-disciplinary collaboration;
• VET/University cooperation;
• active industry participation and engagement;
• the extensive use of e-learning; and
• the creation of educational/employment programs and pathways within the sustainable industry sector.

The main design responses to these objectives were:

• welcoming and engaging first experiences in entries, teaching and learning spaces, staff, administration, support aces and workshops
• Use MIT’s “conceive, design, implement, operate” in a process-based learning approach
• Multi-purpose workshop space allows multiple trades to work together in a manner that reflects an actual building site
• Internal glazing to allow visual connections that encourage trans-disciplinarity
• Increased informal learning space with a range of learning settings and support spaces for self-directed learning and cial interaction

A core objective of the SIEC was to be an exemplar sustainable facility and gain efficiencies in operational and recurrent costs. 90% of existing structure (the Mitsubishi Automotive Building – MAB) has been maintained with clear identification of ‘old’ and ‘new’ through paint treatments. The preservation of the industrial character of the existing MAB was critical, with minimal applied finishes and the raw character enhanced through the expression of services and structural elements for demonstrator purposes.