Burns & McDonnell Opens Trades Academy; Plans Traveling Schools
Date Posted: May 13, 2025
Posted In: Discussion, Ideas, Workforce,
Burns & McDonnell cut the ribbon (in February on its Construction Academy in Houston, Texas. The Academy provides online knowledge assessments and hands-on craft construction training through its campus in Greater Houston as well as through mobile units it will send out to construction project sites around the country.
“The Construction Academy is a bold step forward in our vision to be the premier provider of craft construction labor in the country,” says Brett Williams, president of the Construction Group at Burns & McDonnell. “Through our combination of knowledge and hands-on assessments, we are equipping our construction professionals with the tools they need to be successful out in the field.”
Associated Builders and Contractors reports the construction industry will need to bring in nearly a half-million new workers in 2025 on top of normal hiring trends to meet industry demand.
The Academy’s 14,000-square-foot recruitment and training hub in the Houston suburb of Pearland consists of classroom space and other learning areas where construction professionals can take knowledge assessments and other types of training. A permanent hands-on skills assessment and training facility that simulates work taking place on a construction site will be complete at Pearland in 2026. Hands-on assessments in skills ranging from pipefitting to concrete are currently taking place in temporary training facilities at the Academy campus.
In addition, Burns & McDonnell is building a fleet of mobile training units to take both knowledge and hands-on assessments to the field at its project sites around the country.