Hutchies building skills with innovative training centre

Midtown Centre is a $175 million refurbishment and upgrade of the former Queensland Government-owned Health and Forestry House buildings at 155 Charlotte Street and 150 Mary Street. Several Queensland Government Departments occupied these buildings for more than three decades until they came to the end of their lifecycle. 

It is now undergoing one of the largest urban regeneration projects in Australia’s history, converting it from two towers into one of the most sustainably rated buildings in the country with cutting edge operational technology and first-class amenities. When complete, it will become a new business hub in the centre of Brisbane’s heart.

Midtown Centre is an exciting opportunity to showcase the innovative design features, unique construction techniques and the important training, employment and participation initiatives that Hutchies has integrated as part of the construction over the next two years.

The event, held on Friday 22 November 2019, was attended by the Honourable Mick de Brenni, Minister for Housing and Public Works, and included a special Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony along with traditional dancing to celebrate the milestone.

Hutchies expects around 450 direct local jobs will be secured during construction, which will include approximately 150 students trained through Hutchies’ training and employment initiatives with a target of 50% Indigenous participation. Its estimated that a further 1000 indirect jobs will be supported from the project. It is home to a flagship popup training school, which includes our Statim Yaga Indigenous training and employment initiative and a new Construction Sustainability & Technology school for environmentally sustainable development.

Our Statim Yaga Indigenous training and employment initiative is integrated into the training school, as we strive to attract as many First Australians as possible into training and long-term career opportunities in the construction industry.

Since launching in 2015, our Statim Yaga (which means ‘start work’) has placed more than 350 Indigenous people into careers across the industry, with a goal to reach 550 by mid-2020.

CEO of the Preston Campbell Foundation (PCF) and recently appointed Statim Yaga ambassador Preston Campbell congratulated the century old family-business on the work it was doing to create opportunities for First Australians in construction.

The training school is operated by our very own award-winning industry-leading registered training organisation (RTO) – Hutchies Training. Established almost a decade ago, we’ve seen thousands of cadets, apprentices and existing workers trained and upskilled through Hutchies Training.

In an industry first, we’ve established a new Construction Sustainability & Technology (CST) initiative, based in the Midtown Training School that will provide pathways for engineering undergraduates, consultants and tradespeople to gain real-world experience on live building projects. CST is operated by our in-house Building Services & ESD Team, who have delivered over $2 billion worth of green buildings across the country.

CST has partnered with global building systems leaders like Honeywell, who are supplying example building operations technology as part of the training. Currently, we are in the process of establishing university partnerships to open the training up further. 

Hutchies is committed to generating and securing construction skills as the industry comes off the back of the apartment boom. We see their work as critical to keep people employed and the industry open for business. 

Minister for Housing and Public Works Mick de Brenni recognised Hutchies’ role in delivering local benefits to the construction industry and community.

Joint venture developers of the Midtown Centre project, AsheMorgan and DMANN Corporation, announced earlier this year that Rio Tinto had secured a pre-commitment for 20,000sqm of commercial office space of the 27-story tower. 

When complete, the 44,000sqm building will boast floor plates of 2000sqm, subtropical inspired interiors that use a range of locally sourced materials, outdoor terraces, inter-floor mixed-mode atriums, state-of-the-art end of trip facilities, a wellness centre, and a unique 840sqm sky terrace at level 20.

We are thrilled to be delivering Midtown Centre as one of Queensland’s highest rated refurbished buildings – targeting PCA A Grade, a 5 Star Green Star rating and the first Silver WELL rated core and shell office building in the state.