Industry Opportunities
The Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence offers training that gives you the technical expertise and the people skills critical to these industries. Field placements and research projects provide an applied learning experience. With strong ties to the Ottawa construction industry, we work with industry partners to ensure our programs match current standards and practices used in the field today and connect our students to industry professionals to build contacts throughout their studies.
Our one-of-a-kind innovative building provides a space for industry, faculty and students to work together under a single green roof to implement sustainable building practices and technologies. Our website serves as a place to help potential students learn about the industry and find the right program for them. It also serves as a place for industry professionals to connect with us and build a sense of community.
Sustainability
Green Roof – our prime visible manifestation of sustainability
At close to 4,000 m2 the Green Roof on the ACCE building is one of our prime visible manifestations of sustainability that sets this building apart and gives it its striking, iconic presence. It consists of sedum drought-resistant plants that grow in a sand medium, requiring little maintenance or irrigation once established, and it is part of a high performance building envelope, achieving an R-50 insulating value. This growing vegetation also absorbs and controls rainwater runoff, which creates less strain on the building’s storm sewer drainage systems.
Graduating Environmentally Aware, Skilled Trades People
The Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence (ACCE) serves as a showcase and teaching laboratory for sustainable construction. Daily interaction with the building and the living lab concept helps produce graduates who are environmentally aware, knowledgeable about green building practices, and able to live and work in a sustainable world.
LEED Platinum Certification
Gaining LEED Platinum certification has been an integral part of the design, materials selection and construction process of the Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence since its inception. By meeting the highest standard for sustainability, ACCE has become one of the largest LEED Platinum certified building’s in Canada. Learn more about the ACCE building’s green commitments in this video produced by the Canadian Green Building Council.
The New Baseline Transit Hub
Baseline Station, a central hub of Ottawa’s public transit system, is located immediately adjacent to the new ACCE building. An underground tunnel has been incorporated to provide a sheltered terminal for the future Light Rail Transit, with easy access to bus routes on the ground level. This new transit hub and accompanying pedestrian bridge over Woodroffe Avenue allows the community to easily access and be a part of ACCE, while providing safe access to all Algonquin students.
About the Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence
Explore the Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence
Opened in September 2011, the LEED® Platinum accredited Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence brings the next generation of carpenters, plumbers, civil engineering technologists, interior designers, and many other trades and professions under a single, green roof in this one-of-a-kind living laboratory.
The Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence (ACCE) is a hub of the best construction, architecture and engineering instructors and labs in Ontario, providing you with the education and hands-on skills you need to succeed in your career. We understand that you want the best education so you can kick-start your career into overdrive, and we’re here to support you on that path.
Inside ACCE
Living Labratory
ACCE serves as a living laboratory that augments student learning and applied research. A five-storey biowall made up of living plants filters the air, providing oxygen to the atrium space and all five connected floors. Built-in sensors located throughout the building provide real-time and historical building diagnostics via on-site LCD screens and a unique website, allowing students to monitor the building’s temperature, humidity, air quality, structural load, and more.
Inter-professional Learning Environment
The LEED® Platinum accredited Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence (ACCE) offers 190,000 square feet of space that allows for all construction and related design programs to be housed in a single location. This inter-professional space is designed to encourage collaboration between disciplines and offer many integrated and cross-program learning opportunities for students. Learn more about Algonquin College’s focus on Apprenticeship Training.
Industry Hub
With its open demonstration spaces and many design and sustainability features, ACCE will become a natural hub for the entire trades and design industry as well as its associations. Bringing together students, professors, and researchers, with local builders and tradespeople will create synergies, increase industry awareness, and produce highly-skilled graduates who are familiar with the collaboration requirements of today’s construction and design sectors. The ACCE building is a member of the Canadian Green Building Council and is featured in this video.
Contributions & Partnerships
The $79-million ACCE building has been partly funded through the Knowledge Infrastructure Program (KIP), Community, Industry, Union and Government Partnerships, and the following contributions:
- $35 million from the Government of Ontario
- $35 million from the Government of Canada
- $7 million from the Constructing our Future Capital Campaign
- $2 million from the City of Ottawa in the value of the land donated