The Nova Scotia Construction Sector Council (NSCSC) Trades Exhibition Hall (TEH) is spreading its wings.
NSCSC executive director Trent Soholt says it is planning to build a version of its popular TEH in the Sydney area on Cape Breton Island.
Founded in 2014, the TEH is a unique venue that gives students and their teachers an opportunity to get up close and personal with the construction trades.
“We’re looking for the right space to set up in right now,” says Soholt. “We expect to be moved in later in 2006 or 2007.”
The TEH is aimed at students in Grades 9 to 12.
Developed in partnership with industry and the Nova Scotia Ministry of Labour Skills and Immigration, the TEH features 14 interactive booths where students and their teachers can learn about careers as boilermakers, bricklayers, carpenters and 11 other trades.
They can take part in a variety of hands-on demonstrations and speak with industry professionals at different stages of their careers.
“The Trades Exhibition Hall is as close to a real jobsite as it is possible to get without being on a real jobsite,” says Soholt.
Tours of the facility have been so popular that groups are being booked a year in advance.
“Teachers have told us their students really like visiting the TEH and learning about the trades,” says Soholt. “The kids say either they want to find out more or that the trades aren’t for them. That’s fine either way.”
Soholt says the TEH has been a bigger success than the NSCSC had expected when it started.
“We’ve had many visits from construction and training organizations from across Canada and also from the U.S. to find out how the TEH works,” says Soholt. “We’ve built a model that can be repeated right across Canada.”
In fact, Nova Scotia’s TEH is already being replicated in Alberta, in a remodelled 13,000 square foot warehouse in northeast Calgary.
Like the TEH, the Alberta Trades Discovery Centre (ATDC) will give junior high and high school students hands-on exposure to careers in the skilled trades before they graduate.
The centre is expected to open in fall 2026, with plans to expand to other parts of the province as demand grows.
“Representatives of the Alberta construction industry and government visited the TEH in fall 2025 after they had heard about it,” says Warren Singh, chairman of the ATDC board.
The ATDC will be governed by a board with representatives of the Alberta Construction Association, Building Trades of Alberta, Construction Labour Relations Alberta and OpenCircle.
Bill Black, president and CEO of the Calgary Construction Association (CCA), went to visit the TES in late 2025 as part of an industry-government delegation, where it spent the day there with NSCSC and members of the Nova Scotia government.
“The TEH concept has a place in Alberta,” says Black. “We used to hold an event that featured different trades, but it was only once a year. What is needed is something that runs all the time, not just once and a while.”
Black says the CCA will bring the trades together to contribute to the content, design and operation of the centre.
“We’ll also be working with local school boards to get their students to visit,” says Black. “The Trades Discovery Centre will become part of our network, a perfect add-on to our existing work.”
Another supporter of the TEH concept is Kyle Downie, CEO of SkillPlan.
“It enables young people to get some hands-on experience in the trades,” says Downie. “And there’s an opportunity for every region in the country to replicate the model.”
SkillPlan, which is based in Burnaby, B.C., but works across Canada, is a non-profit that provides construction workforce training.
“The TEH model would complement our online youth products, Construction Trades Hub and Build Your Skills.”
Brynn Bourke, executive director of the BC Building Trades Council, has visited the TEH and calls it “the-best-of-the-best.”
“It gives youth hands-on exposure to the trades in one place in one day, with the chance to talk to real tradespeople,” says Bourke.
The model works because it has the support of the Nova Scotia provincial government, which organizes school tours of the TEH, she says.
“That gives the TEH a steady source of revenue to keep it viable,” says Bourke.
B.C. has an online version of the TEH in the form of the College of BC Building Trades, which is a virtual campus for students.
The college has the Trade Ambassador Program, providing interactive workshops that give high schools students an inside look at the skilled trades through the eyes of a young construction worker.
