NMITE is celebrating the opening of its new low-carbon building, an extension to its Blackfriars campus. The site will become the central space where local businesses and people will come to gain exactly what they need to succeed – a hub for personal and business growth – in the centre of Hereford.
The space, which will be named later early in 2027 with an official naming ceremony, will act as a hub for providing skills and knowledge to the local community. The build was backed by over £2 million in capital funding from the Government’s Towns Fund, as a core element of the broader Stronger Hereford programme – an initiative to make Hereford a better place to live, learn, work and visit.
The building will be used for a variety of uses from exhibitions, events, workshops, community activity, to business engagement, entrepreneurial activity and NMITE’s own activity, for example, it will house the next NMITE Open Day on 21 November. As part of its role in upskilling, reskilling and business, 21 January will see the launch of a new CPD course ‘Leading in Engineering’ which will be delivered in partnership with local firm Minerva as well as new workshops under the Innovation Programme banner which NMITE has been successfully running since 2024.
The brief called for a striking building that showcases NMITE as an institution, with learning spaces flexible enough to adapt to changing needs. It also asked for a high-performing, well-insulated building with low embodied carbon, built from natural materials using fabric first principles. Arbor Architect’s response is an open, transparent glulam timber frame, supplied by Buckland Timber, which is both the building’s structure and a teaching tool for NMITE’s engineering students.
NMITE will be hosting an open evening on Thursday 12 November from 6:30pm, giving the local community the change to hear about NMITE’s past, present and future, and about how the centre is growing into a bridge between businesses and academia, plus provide a insight into the building itself.
Those who wish to attend can apply for free tickets at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/opening-celebration-of-the-nmite-centre-for-innovation-and-future-skills-tickets-2003417535780
James Newby, President and CEO of NMITE said “We wanted this to be much more than another building for NMITE. It’s a place for businesses, employers and the wider community to use, so it matters that it is a real asset to Hereford too. I’m delighted that Arbor Architects have given us something so distinctive – a beautifully designed building that makes a real contribution to our growing city campus and to the city itself.”
Elly Deacon Smith, Director at Arbor Architects, who will also be speaking at the event and explaining more about the design of the building said: “It has been a real pleasure to work with NMITE to bring this project to life. The site is an inspiring showcase of modern timber construction, demonstrating the potential of sustainable, locally sourced materials while creating a welcoming and adaptable place for learning and innovation. We hope it will serve the business community for many years to come and play an important role in helping Hereford develop the skills, knowledge and opportunities needed for the future.”
The new centre includes new space and renovation of an unused part of NMITE’s existing Edwardian building. A highlight is a pioneering hybrid glulam beam at eaves level, part of a project led by NMITE’s Centre for Advanced Timber Technology (CATT) with Edinburgh Napier University on Building from England’s Woodland. The project aims to demonstrate the viability of English grown timber in modern construction methods.
The centre was delivered by local timber specialists Firth Construction, with Greenwood Projects as project manager and quantity surveyor, VIDA as mechanical and electrical designers, Giraffe Engineering as structural designers and Seed Landscape Design as landscape designers.