Duke of Edinburgh visits New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering

Accompanied by the Lord-Lieutenant of Herefordshire, Edward Harley, His Royal Highness toured the campus and met NMITE students, academic staff and CEO James Newby.

Its campus will eventually house the Centre for Automated Manufacture (CAM), the Centre for Future Skills (CFS) and the Centre for Advanced Timber Technology (CATT).

The photo shows the duke at CATT, with MEng student Mahmoud Awad who is building partition walls for Syrian refugee camps.

“NMITE is a transformative force in UK university and technical education, redefining engineering and construction training on a national scale, how we are providing new educational opportunities for local people and helping to overcome the barriers to regional economic growth,” said CEO Newby. “Our over-arching goal is to generate substantial employment, skills development, and economic impacts for Herefordshire, fulfilling the institution’s intended role as a catalyst for positive change in the region.”

Established as a partnership between NMITE and Edinburgh Napier University, CATT is itself housed in a timber-based building, that NMITE claims stores 330 tonnes of CO₂-equivalent.

NMITE’s Skylon campus is on Skylon Park, a 110 acre enterprise based around Rotherwas Industrial Estate, just off the A38 near Hereford. It is already  home to 200 companies with over 3,500 people.

The Skylon name comes from the Skylon sculpture, which was manufactured in Hereford to be the centre-piece for the 1951 Festival of Britain. A 46m high tribute (artists impression – left) to the original Skylon is to be installed at Skylon Park.