Giant Steps Cabinetry Project

Earlier in the year WorldSkills Australia in collaboration with BBM Youth Support and TAFE NSW coordinated a project to have much needed drainage installed in a play area at Giant Steps, an educational centre for children and young adults with autism in Gladesville, NSW.

The original program proved so successful for all parties involved, the organisations decided to collaborate again to deliver another project for the school. Giant Steps identified the need for new storage cabinets in classrooms as being a high priority. The classroom cabinets needed to be custom made for two reasons. Firstly they needed to be designed to make the most efficient use of the space available but secondly and most importantly they needed to be a particular design with concealed hardware that will ensure the children’s safety.

This successful collaboration between WorldSkills Australia, TAFE NSW and BBM Youth Support involved a group of supervised students from the Allied Timber Trades section at TAFE NSW South Western Sydney Institute, Lidcombe College, visiting the school to measure up the spaces where the cabinets were to be installed. The students then prepared the design drawings prior to cutting and preparing the components. Once assembled, the materials were taken to Giant Steps for installation. As with the measuring, the installation was done as a class exercise by the students of the Allied Timber Trades section; the onsite installation formed part of the students’ assessment and provided them with practical training – all for a good cause.

Thank you to Hettich who supplied the hardware for the job and the SWSI Student association that provided drink bottles and satchels for the students of Giant Steps.

The project’s success was largely due to the work of Dion Iori, a teacher at Allied Timber Trades TAFE NSW South Western Sydney Institute, Lidcombe College, who coordinated and supervised the building and installation of the cabinetry.