Lendlease Building has been selected as the preferred contractor for the new $300 million Canberra Institute of Technology campus at Woden.
Skills Minister Chris Steel said the partnership between the ACT government and Lendlease would deliver a state-of-the-art campus in Canberra's south and create 520 jobs.
"Lendlease has a long history in Woden Town Centre and is experienced locally and internationally in the delivery of large, complex infrastructure projects," Mr Steel said.
"We are confident their expertise in design and construction will support the successful delivery of a sustainable, innovative and modern CIT campus with digitally-enabled learning spaces, activated common areas and integrated green spaces."
The ACT government said in a statement there would be targets set for the project to attract more women into construction roles and bolster the participation of Indigenous-led companies.
Mr Steel said the campus was for vocational education and training students, and would be built by those students.
An estate development plan has been lodged for the site, which takes into consideration community feedback from a recent consultation process and is available for public comment until May 12.
The new campus will include "smart classrooms", commercial kitchens and training spaces for IT, cyber security, hospitality and business students. The site will also feature housing for vulnerable young people who are completing training courses or studying.
After signing contracts with the ACT government, Lendlease would work with the government to finalise the design of the site, the ACT government said in a statement.
"Community and stakeholder working groups will also be established, to provide input into the project's design development. These groups will provide input on topics such as sustainability, the building's functions, the public realm within the precinct and cultural inclusions," the statement said.
The Woden campus was approved by the ACT government in August 2020, with construction expected to begin this year and be ready for students in 2025.
The project was then estimated to cost between $250 to $300 million and the government confirmed it use the community's preferred design option of shorter buildings spread over a larger footprint rather than one very tall building.
The new precinct will effectively replace CIT's Reid facility which will be redeveloped into a University of New South Wales campus over the next 15 years, with a $1 billion price tag.
Works started late last year on a new public transport interchange at Woden, which is a component of the Canberra Institute of Technology campus. Those works resulted in the partial closure of Callam Street.
Major Project Canberra head Duncan Edghill told an annual reports inquiry hearing in February the preferred candidate had been identified after the tender process, but as negotiations were ongoing he could not give a definitive timeline for project.
Works on the CIT campus precinct had already taken a hit amid worker shortages for parts of the new public transport interchange.
The ACT's procurement processes were put in the spotlight late last year, after the Auditor-General found the process which awarded a tender to Lendlease for an upgrade of a primary school lacked probity.
The company was awarded the contract for the Campbell Primary School upgrade in June 2020 despite two tender evaluation teams identifying another company as the preferred tenderer.
There is no suggestion of impropriety in the process to award Lendlease the contract for the Canberra Institute of Technology campus.
