B.C. invests $270M in Vancouver Community College for clean energy, automotive centre

The B.C. government says it is investing $270 million into Vancouver Community College (VCC) to build a new Centre for Clean Energy and Automotive Innovation.

Premier David Eby says the centre will help prepare people for jobs in the clean economy.

He explains more than 28,000 jobs have already been added in the province this year, with more on the way.

“It will be an eight-storey concrete building with mass timber exposed in the atrium … It’s going to create 1,400 jobs just to build it and over 670 indirect jobs. It’s going to start construction in the spring of 2024, and our hope is that the first students will be taking programs there in the fall of 2027,” Eby said. 

“Our province is facing a remarkable time of opportunity and we know that people need support to be able to take advantage of it and for our community to grow and to build our province as a whole. This project is such an exciting one.” 

Eby was joined by Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills Selina Robinson for the announcement Thursday. She says the centre will help students find and develop new skills.

“The new Center for Clean Energy and Automotive Innovation will give thousands of British Columbians, thousands of them, the opportunity to build the skills that they need for in-demand and high-opportunity careers in a fast-growing green economy,” she said.

“Our government is focused on getting workers the skills that they need, not just for today, but for the skills of tomorrow.”

“Over the next decade, we are expecting one million job openings right here in British Columbia. Eighty per cent of those jobs, they’re going to need some sort of post-secondary education and more than 83,000 of them will be in the skilled trades, and that’s why this Center for Clean Energy and Automotive Innovation is so important.”

Up to 1,400 students will be able to participate in various programs per year.

“The Centre for Clean Energy and Automotive Innovation will provide education and skills training for people in British Columbia and Red-Seal-certified apprentices of modern automotive trades to support our growing green economy, including electric, hydrogen fuel cell, plug-in and autonomous vehicles,” a news release reads.

The centre is slated to be up and running by 2027.