On Thursday, November 23, RMIT held its Vocational Education Student Awards at the Capitol Theatre in Melbourne. The awards ceremony was the first of its kind, bringing together students from all streams of VE to celebrate the institute’s highest achievers in 2023. Deputy Vice Chancellor of Vocational Education and Vice President of RMIT University Mish […]
A new course has become available for HVAC&R technicians who are maintaining or signing off mechanical services for Annual Fire Safety Statements (AFSS). The course has been approved by the NSW Department of Customer Service under the Fire Protection Accreditation Scheme (FPAS). It will allow Certificate III-qualified professionals to conduct annual certification of essential fire […]
November has been a busy month for skills training in Australia. The federal and Victorian governments combined to announce funding for up to 62,800 new fee-free TAFE positions in Victoria – with the construction industry highlighted as a major area of need. Meanwhile, the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) released a report suggesting […]
Building services specialist A.G. Coombs has released an advisory note on classification and structure for building data. “As the construction and property sectors continue to develop and embrace new technologies including digital twins, cognitive buildings, artificial intelligence and machine learning,” says A.G. Coombs, “there is a need to ensure that data systems are suitable to […]
Buildings, an international, scientific, peer-reviewed, open-access journal on building science, building engineering and architecture published monthly online by MDPI, is seeking submissions for a special issue dedicated to indoor air quality. Guest editors Dr Shamila Haddad and Dr Arianna Brambilla from the School of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney, and Professor Dr Baojie He […]
Researchers from Washington State University (WSU) have created a test chamber within a shipping container to trial passive cooling systems. The project aims to help researchers and builders test carbon-free systems in a controlled environment, such as using wind towers or water evaporation instead of electricity to cool spaces. Lead author of the study and […]
The WorldSkills Australia National Championships were held in Melbourne over the weekend, with 470 competitors from around Australia vying for medals in different areas of vocational education and training (VET). The aim of the event is to get young Australians excited about skills and trades and growing Australia’s skills culture. It’s also about building the […]
The Kirby Apprentice Fund has opened applications for the CO2 Training Scholarship program to fourth-year HVAC&R industry apprentices. The scholarship includes a two-day CO2 systems training experience, including: CO2 safety and CO2 repair and service systems training (held at the Sydney-based Beijer Ref Training Academy) Australian Refrigeration Council Green Scheme Accreditation, upon successful completion of […]
ASHRAE has announced the winners of the 2023 Student Design Competition and the Setty Family Foundation Applied Engineering Challenge. Students were challenged to design the HVAC system for a laboratory facility located in Cairo, Egypt, for the 2023 Student Design Competition. This consisted of a large single-story building with a rooftop penthouse equalling about 2,515m2. The teams were […]
Although the concept of occupational health and safety (OH&S) is enshrined in our laws and even our culture, how much of the focus is on immediate safety issues, rather than health and wellbeing? This question is at the heart of a new book by Helen Lingard and Michelle Turner, both professors at The Centre for […]