The TRU School of Trades and Technology won two gold awards at the 9th annual Keystone Home Builders Awards of Excellence on September 28. For the Y Dream Home 2013, TRU won both the Fortis BC Building Energy Efficiency Award and Best Public/Private Partnership.

Each year the School’s Training House, which is sold to the Kamloops YMCA/YWCA for their Dream Home Lottery fundraiser, is recognized with local and provincial building awards, but this is the first time TRU has received two gold awards in a single competition.

“To compete against all builders in Kamloops and to win two awards is a very respectable milestone,” says Lindsay Langill, Dean of the School of Trades and Technology. A total of 22 awards were presented at a black tie gala at the Delta Sun Peaks Hotel and Resort on Saturday.

The Y Dream Home is a partnership–now in its 24th year–between TRU and the Canadian Home Builders’ Association Central Interior (CHBA CI). First year residential construction, electrical, and plumbing program students from the School of Trades and Technology get hands-on building experience on the Training House, and sale of the house by the CHBA CI supports community initiatives. See photos of the 2013 home, and the process of building the 2014 Training House at The Pointe in Sun Rivers, on the association’s Facebook page or Twitter feed.