Caption: Fabricating truths: Wayne Reid stands in Impressions restaurant where there used to be workshops for light fabrication, welding and, later, panel-beating and painting.
When you look at WITT’s history you could be forgiven for thinking it’s been like an ongoing show of Changing Rooms.
Standing in the polytech’s training restaurant, Impressions, Wayne Reid remembers a time when the dining room and large kitchen were workshops.
That’s what they were when the head of automotive, fabrication and welding started at WITT (then the Taranaki Polytech) in 1991.
The northern-most section of the building was a light fabrication workshop and was used by the engineering trade courses. Next to that was a welding workshop.
“If we go back longer it was quite large workshop and it was cut in half. One side stayed as a welding workshop and the other became the technicians’ workshop. Their job was to maintain the equipment to the health and safety standards required.”
From 1998 to 2000, the area became a workshop to accommodate a pre-apprenticeship course for panel beaters and painters.
That ended after three years and 2000/2001, the hospitality department moved from the polytech’s Maratahu St facility to the Bell St campus.
“They also closed the welding workshop and technicians’ workshop,” Wayne says.
Welding went to M block and the technicians moved to F2 and then to the vehicle service centre at the bottom of the campus.
“Back then we had a lot more trade course and we used to run pre-vocational course and Maori trade training. Where the early childhood is now, that used to be our classrooms.”
The automotive department was also in F block, but at the start of 2004 was relocated to Saltash St. “We came back in for the start of 2011,” Wayne says.
Automotive is now in a revamped M block, where the welding workshop used to be.
Welding is still taught at WITT and is based in buildings at the bottom of the campus.