The Griffith Base Hospital redevelopment is coming together, with the non-clinical services building well on it's way to completion and work underway for temporary buildings.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The contractors for the preliminary and early-stage developments, Hutchinson Builders, have prided themselves on sourcing workers and supplies locally as much as possible.
Greg Aird, the senior site manager, said that this was their policy but some of the trades needed to be found elsewhere.
"A lot of the specialised trades like fire sprinklers are from other towns, but we try to source local workers as much as possible."
Two of those local workers are Rodney Gibbs and Tyrone Sloane, two trainees.
Mr Gibbs is from the local Aboriginal Land council and has been taken on to learn the ropes of management, while Mr Sloane was brought on for work experience and has volunteered for an extra week (and some extra credit from the school).
"It's been a really good experience, I'm learning a lot ... they pay me well," Mr Gibbs said. He's been swapped around to get experience with a number of different trades, but is mainly being trained as a supervisor.
He's also going to be heading up to the Queensland offices in the near future for some in-house training. He'll be receiving his Elevated Work Platform training as well as qualifications in working with heights.
READ MORE:
Mr Aird is keen to keep him on for upcoming jobs as well, and said he's come a long way in the months since he began.
"When he started he was really shy and pretty quiet, but he's really come into his own. I tell him he's wearing our shirt, he's part of the team."
On the work experience front, Tyrone Sloane was complimented by a teacher on the progress he'd made while visiting the site, and said he was keen to do some roofing work later on in the day.
A spokesperson for Health Infrastructure said that the non-clinical services building is expected to be completed by the end of the year and that they were supportive of education and training for youth in the area.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.areanews.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News