College of Construction

PCL's Unique Educational Programming

Learning is a never-ending process; therefore, to maintain our collective status as a construction leader, we established the PCL College of Construction in 1990.

Through the college and our professional development programs, we provide employees with the learning experiences and opportunities they need to explore today's technologies and to hone their supervisory, management and relationship-building skills.

In fact, we promote any technical or behavioral skill training that is conducted within the PCL family of companies. Consequently, most of the college courses, workshops and seminars draw on our own internal experts to deliver the training. We have a college campus or dedicated private learning space at each of our operations to support this work.

In addition, we recognize employees who independently pursue professional development with external resources, such as national and provincial/state construction associations.

The College of Construction sponsors courses and provides access to learning materials that develop skills in five main areas:

Technical

To ensure employees have the appropriate opportunities to become and remain technically competent in key construction techniques, computer skills and safety.

Personal

To enrich our personal abilities to learn, to communicate and to organize ourselves.

Interpersonal

To build on our skills to interact effectively with one another.

Leadership and Management

To demonstrate and practice new methods for the management of our key resources: our people, our time, our materials/equipment and our finances.

QUEST (skills for continuous improvement)

To help develop innovative ways for working that will prepare employees for the challenges facing our multi-faceted organization of independent companies—today and in the competitive, complex and rapidly-changing future.

In each of these five areas, the college endeavors to develop high-quality professional development opportunities. They are available to all employees throughout the PCL family of companies, whether it's through a formal learning event, or one-on-one coaching.

We are particularly proud of our Career Development Guides which have been developed to support growth in all our major job streams. Drawing on the associated competency profiles, career paths and role descriptions, these guides provide the tools for people to track their own career development. Also, they help employees to identify the skills necessary to reach their full potential and to have rewarding careers.

View an example of our Buildings Operations Career Path.