Ottawa's French-language community college is aiming to help fill cracks in the construction industry at its brand new Orleans campus, teaching trades ranging from plumbing to green building technologies.

When the doors of La Cité Collégiale's new site open next week, it will accommodate 300 construction trade students.

Local builder Minto Contruction helped fund the campus.

"We are training their future employees in an environment where we have the proper equipment," said college offical Sylvie Beauvais, who worked with Minto.

The expansion of its construction trades programs was funded in 2008 with $6.75 million from the province of Ontario.

The college's Research and Training Centre in the Construction Trades is scheduled to accommodate 750 additional students by 2013-2014.

The construction trade students are part of the booming enrolment at the fast-growing college, which has 4,500 students.

For a second year in a row, enrollment has risen by 10 per cent, "really spectacular" growth, said Cité Collégiale president, Lise Bourgeois.

"The colleges are really close to economic development, especially when you are in a francophone community where there is a high demand for qualified workers to be ready to participate to the economic, social, and cultural development of the community," she said.