A portable opportunity

The School of Construction Industries staffed a display at the recent HIA Home Show, held from 26-30 March at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. The focus of the VU display was one of the portable homes that are built by students as part of their training and skills development.

Neville Penny, Senior Program Manager in Construction Industries said: "The portable home is a great example of how a range of building and construction skills are taught in Construction Industries courses. Students from Certificate 2 and Certificate 3 build the portables as a way of consolidating and integrating their new skills with a real-life project."

It is estimated over 80,000 people attended the Home Show, and a high number of these made their way through the VU display.

Neville Penny said: "We were overwhelmed by the public response. The portable was crammed with visitors. People remarked that this 'live work' project obviously gave students a more realistic approach to training. In fact we had some students turning up to show their family and friends what they'd achieved. At the end of the day we were thrilled that we'd brought along the portable - but everyone here was run off their feet."

The VU display also included live demonstrations of the machinery from the Rapid Engineering area, Lynette Orzlowski demonstrated her skills in creative airbrushing, and the Sign Industry area demonstrated their newly acquired machinery for printing on mugs, mouse pads, caps and coasters.