£2m skills hub plan for Hereford

Plans have been unveiled to create a new “eye-catching” £2-million skills hub at a prominent city spot.

The New Model Institute for Technology And Engineering (NMITE) is seeking planning permission (application 233723) to extend the Edwardian former school it uses on the corner of Blackfriars Street and Widemarsh Street.

NMITE says it has secured over £2 million in government funding for the project, which it describes as “a core element of the Hereford Stronger Towns programme” which will “help address the chronic skills shortage in Herefordshire”.

It wants to knock down a “small, redundant” toilet block on the southern end of the main building and replace it with a single-storey, open-plan “futuristic space” capable of being subdivided into different configurations.

The exterior would be finished in handmade grey-brown ceramic tiles, and roofed in red-tinted zinc. There would be a partly enclosed courtyard garden to the rear between the new and existing buildings.

“We want the new element to be visually unique while reflecting the proportions and quality of the existing building,” its designer Arbor Architects says in an accompanying statement.

The planning application can be commented on until February 29.

If approved, NMITE hopes to begin construction of the hub later this year and to open it next spring.