New CTE Centers in Oregon Prepare Students for High-Demand Trades and Manufacturing Jobs
Across the country and closer to home here in Oregon, career and technical education (CTE) facilities are becoming cornerstone investments at K-12 schools and college campuses. What once lived on the periphery—auto shops tucked behind high schools or windowless welding labs behind community colleges—has moved to the center of educational planning. With unprecedented demand for skilled labor, districts and colleges are racing to build flexible, industry-aligned spaces that prepare students for real jobs in real time.
Several converging forces are driving this shift. With many skilled workers reaching retirement age, critical roles aren’t being filled fast enough by young people. The skilled labor shortage in fields like manufacturing and construction is no longer a looming threat. It’s an everyday operational challenge for companies like ours.
In Oregon alone, a 2025 Associated General Contractors of America survey found that 85% of construction firms struggle to fill hourly craft positions and 87% struggle to fill salaried jobs, echoing a national trend. At the same time, students and families are seeking affordable pathways into stable, high-demand careers.
To fill the gap, CTE facilities can now function as engines of local workforce development with potential to help remake local economies.
That shift is evident in the Industry and Trades Education Center (ITEC) at Lane Community College in Eugene, the marquee project from a $121 million voter-approved bond. Designed by Hennebery Eddy Architects, the 55,000-square-foot workforce hub opened in January 2025, bringing together construction, mechanical, engineering, and plumbing programs into a single building for the first time. Previously, LCC apprentices trained in separate facilities across campus; now, future plumbers, electricians, machinists, and automation specialists will work side by side, mirroring the real-world collaboration found on jobsites.
Across the country and closer to home here in Oregon, career and technical education (CTE) facilities are becoming cornerstone investments at K-12 schools and college campuses. What once lived on the periphery—auto shops tucked behind high schools or windowless welding labs behind community colleges—has moved to the center of educational planning. With unprecedented demand for skilled labor, districts and colleges are racing to build flexible, industry-aligned spaces that prepare students for real jobs in real time.
Several converging forces are driving this shift. With many skilled workers reaching retirement age, critical roles aren’t being filled fast enough by young people. The skilled labor shortage in fields like manufacturing and construction is no longer a looming threat. It’s an everyday operational challenge for companies like ours.
In Oregon alone, a 2025 Associated General Contractors of America survey found that 85% of construction firms struggle to fill hourly craft positions and 87% struggle to fill salaried jobs, echoing a national trend. At the same time, students and families are seeking affordable pathways into stable, high-demand careers.
To fill the gap, CTE facilities can now function as engines of local workforce development with potential to help remake local economies.
That shift is evident in the Industry and Trades Education Center (ITEC) at Lane Community College in Eugene, the marquee project from a $121 million voter-approved bond. Designed by Hennebery Eddy Architects, the 55,000-square-foot workforce hub opened in January 2025, bringing together construction, mechanical, engineering, and plumbing programs into a single building for the first time. Previously, LCC apprentices trained in separate facilities across campus; now, future plumbers, electricians, machinists, and automation specialists will work side by side, mirroring the real-world collaboration found on jobsites.
ITEC’s high-bay labs allow full-scale equipment and building systems to be moved indoors, simulating actual jobsite conditions. Programs in unmanned aircraft systems and advanced manufacturing reflect the rapid technological shifts driving both new career opportunities and new training demands. The building itself reinforces those lessons: a hybrid structure of Oregon-made mass plywood panels and exposed mechanical systems turns the facility into a living laboratory. Flexibility is central.
As industry needs evolve, so can the building, with spaces designed to accommodate emerging fields.
That idea that CTE spaces must be responsive to the industries they serve is shaping the construction, design and engineering across college campus.
Community-rooted workforce development on the Oregon Coast
Rendering of the future OCATT Center in Newport, Oregon. Credit Hacker Architects
Lewis is now building one of Oregon’s newest CTE projects: the Oregon Coast Advanced Technology & Trades (OCATT) Center at Oregon Coast Community College in Newport. Designed by GLAS Architects with Hacker and BNDRY Studio, the 22,000-square-foot mass timber facility will offer programs in construction, maritime technology, welding, HVAC, and industrial facilities maintenance.
OCATT is designed for skill sets rather than programs. The four core labs are organized around building systems, mechanical systems, electronic systems, and a heavy “dirty build” lab. Students will move between them as they apply shared concepts. The building’s flexibility will also allow OCCC to add equipment, adopt new technologies, and create specialized credentials with local employers.
Just as importantly, OCATT addresses a long-standing regional challenge: students leaving Lincoln County for training and employment and never returning. With gathering spaces and a kitchen, lockers, showers, and employer meeting rooms, the Center is designed to support learners balancing jobs, family obligations, and career transitions.
These new Lease Crutcher Lewis-built facilities are examples of projects that blend collaboration, adaptability, employer partnerships, and hands-on learning in ways that prepare students not only for today’s jobs, but for the industries that will define our next decade.
They are reshaping the future of education and reshaping local economies in the process. It’s been our pleasure to play a role in delivering them.
CA White and Tanner Perrine are project executives with general contractor Lease Crutcher Lewis.