Educational institutions across the United States continue investing in career and technical education facilities as contractors and manufacturers face persistent workforce shortages in skilled trades and industrial sectors. In Oregon, Lease Crutcher Lewis is helping deliver new workforce training facilities designed to support construction, manufacturing and technical education programs aligned with regional labor demand.
The projects include the completed Industry and Trades Education Center at Lane Community College in Eugene and the Oregon Coast Advanced Technology & Trades Center currently under development in Newport.
Lane Community College’s Industry and Trades Education Center, known as ITEC, opened in January 2025 as part of a voter-approved bond program valued at $121 million. Designed by Hennebery Eddy Architects, the 55,000-square-foot facility consolidates multiple apprenticeship and trades programs into a single workforce training hub.
Programs housed within the facility include construction trades, plumbing, electrical training, mechanical systems, machining and automation-related instruction.
The building incorporates high-bay laboratory spaces designed to accommodate full-scale equipment and building systems for hands-on instruction. The project also integrates exposed mechanical systems and Oregon-manufactured mass plywood components as part of the facility’s educational design approach.
Flexible layouts were incorporated to support future program modifications and evolving industry training requirements.
Lease Crutcher Lewis is also building the Oregon Coast Advanced Technology & Trades Center at Oregon Coast Community College in Newport.
The 22,000-square-foot facility, designed by GLAS Architects in collaboration with Hacker and BNDRY Studio, will support programs including welding, HVAC, maritime technology, industrial maintenance and construction trades.
Project planners organized the building around shared technical skill areas including building systems, mechanical systems and electronic systems rather than traditional standalone program structures.
The facility will also include student support amenities and employer meeting areas intended to support workforce participation and industry collaboration.
Construction owners and contractors continue facing labor availability challenges across multiple skilled trades categories. Industry workforce surveys have identified ongoing difficulty filling both craft labor and salaried construction positions in Oregon and other regional markets.
Career and technical education facilities have become an increasingly active segment of institutional construction as community colleges and school districts expand workforce training capacity tied to manufacturing, construction and infrastructure sectors.
Projects emphasizing adaptable learning environments, industry partnerships and hands-on technical training are becoming more common as owners seek to align educational infrastructure with changing labor market demands.
For contractors, developers and facility owners, investment in career and technical education infrastructure reflects growing efforts to strengthen long-term workforce pipelines across construction and industrial sectors.
The Oregon projects also demonstrate how educational facility design is evolving to support flexible technical instruction, emerging technologies and employer collaboration while addressing regional labor shortages affecting project delivery and economic development.
Source: Lewis Builds.
