NMITE’s commitment to and investment in improving Hereford’s opportunities for economic growth has reached a new milestone as construction begins on its Centre for Innovation and Future Skills (CIFS).
Its focus will be on developing skills for Herefordshire, helping to prepare local businesses and individuals for the future of work, whether that is upskilling, reskilling or developing entrepreneurial and innovative skills. The CIFS building is located on NMITE’s Blackfriars Campus, bringing innovation and entrepreneurship into the heart of Herefordshire’s future.
Backed by over £2 million in capital funding from the Government’s Towns Fund, CIFS is a core element of the broader Stronger Hereford programme – an exciting initiative focused on making Hereford a better place to live, learn, work and visit. Built to the highest sustainability standards, CIFS, which is scheduled to open in Spring 2026, will be located on the corner of Blackfriars Street and Widemarsh Street and will be for all those wanting to realise their potential, whether school leavers, career-shifters, businesses or entrepreneurs.
James Newby shares NMITE’s vision for the building “NMITE has always had at its core a real mission to deliver economic benefit to Herefordshire, and we believe our new centre will help power local economic growth, for example by helping new entrepreneurs get started and support the creation of new jobs in the local area. Our aim is to revolutionise upskilling, reskilling and to address the skills gaps for the current employment environment and for work in the future. And we will adapt our distinctive and highly effective approach to preparing our students for work to our programmes for developing skills for local people and businesses.”
The plan is to create a very flexible building consisting of event/exhibition space; a flexible workspace; two seminar rooms; an informal, comfortable space for social interaction and working; a small room that can be used for immersive technology as well as kitchen and toilet facilities.
CIFS has been expertly designed by local firm Arbor Architects and will be brought to life by local timber construction company, Firth Construction, with other members of the team including project management firm Greenwood Projects, mechanical and electrical designers VIDA, structural designers Giraffe Engineering and landscape designers Seed Landscape Design.
The CIFS building will include 180square metres of new space and will renovate 90square metres of an unused part of the existing Edwardian building. A hybrid glulam beam made from UK grown timber is to be installed in the building as part of a project led by NMITE on Building from England’s Woodland. The project examines the suitability of certain species of English homegrown trees for their use in construction. The construction project offers an opportunity to demonstrate the viability of English grown timber in modern timber construction methods.
“We’re delighted to be working again with local firm Arbor Architects and also award-winning Firth Construction who have impressed us with their focus on timber construction” says Anthea Parker, NMITE’s Director of Strategic Projects and Change. “It will probably come as no surprise that we will be using this new build as part of our education model.”
An example of this is an educational challenge through the partnership between NMITE and Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) which will use the live retrofit and extension project at Blackfriars to develop a practical methodology for measuring the impact of the new structure on the existing form. The challenge with create an education workshop template that can be applied to other building typologies to upskill and inform retrofit approaches.
“This will provide students on our new Construction Management degree which starts in September with real, hands-on learning opportunities” adds Parker.
NMITE is no stranger to creating new, award-winning buildings as exemplified by the Skylon campus which has won Construction Excellence regional and national accolades for best value and social value, respectively. Once built, CIFS will become home to NMITE’s Innovation Support Programme delivered in partnership with Innovate UK as well as other courses and programmes and will be the venue for the Future of Work Conference (this year’s event took place on 5th June).
