NMITE’S innovation model comes to life

As a new higher education (HE) provider, NMITE has shown how being able to innovate at speed means it can now claim to be building skills across age groups from school to post-graduate.

Having announced the launch of its fast-track BEng (Hons) Integrated Engineering degree just a few weeks ago, with students already applying to join in September 2022, NMITE is also:

• Launching two Timber Technology Engineering Design CPD courses
• Soon to open the new CATT (Centre for Advanced Timber Technology) building
• On July 21 and 22 judging, at NMITE, the UK-wide university design challenge “Southside Hereford: University Design Challenge” run by Timber Development UK in partnership with NMITE, Edinburgh Napier University and the Passivhaus Trust
• Building an innovative and generous bursary programme delivering impact nationally and locally: including female scholarships (unusual in the HE sector) and bursaries to provide opportunities for local students
• Driving forward the project, in partnership with further education (FE) colleges and community organisations, in securing central government grants (Stronger Towns Fund) to create two new skills centres in Hereford

“Taken together these initiatives and innovations are tangible proof of NMITE’s rapid progress and ambition,” said Professor Elena Rodriguez-Falcon, NMITE president and chief executive. “Delays caused by Covid are a distant memory and we are now at the stage where we can prove our value and deliver on so many levels, from sustainable timber development to education courses well beyond our initial MEng and all the while playing our role in the levelling up agenda.”

The Skylon Campus building is NMITE’s inaugural advanced campus building that will impact timber technology. A beacon of sustainability in the built environment, Skylon accommodates workshops, studio learning space, breakout/study space and ancillary areas.

Professor Robert Hairstans was appointed as NMITE’s founding director in March 2021 to lead the development and delivery of the CATT and to help establish it as the leading national location in timber education.

“We are delighted that our new space will be ready for our September cohorts on both the BEng and MEng programmes but also that we will be delivering Timber Technology Engineering Design courses which we think will attract attendees from the UK and internationally,” said Prof Hairstans. “It is a real opportunity to position NMITE front and centre in sustainable building”.

Timber Technology Engineering Design 1 (TED 1), which will start on September 26 2022 is a 12-week blended course composed of online distance learning and three on-campus challenge sprints of one week each.

The Timber Technology Engineering Design 2 (TED 2) 12-week course will begin in January 2023, for those who have completed TED 1. Both are delivered in partnership with Timber Development UK and Edinburgh Napier University.

Having both CATT and these courses is a tangible proof point on how NMITE, will help accelerate the utilisation of timber, by ensuring an inclusive educational model which generates a value return for the sector via the next generation of built environment professionals.

The UK wide university design challenge “Southside Hereford: University Design Challenge” was launched at the end of 2021 with university students challenged to form interdisciplinary teams to explore a ‘net zero’ scheme built from timber and timber hybrid systems, materials that are commonly used in modern methods of construction (MMC). Judges will be looking for schemes that are environmentally ‘super-green’, creatively employ sustainable building materials and methods, produce more energy than it consumes, be designed for disassembly and reuse, and emphasise health and well-being at an individual, family and community level.

“This is a great example of a real-life challenge that we are also encouraging our NMITE students to participate in,” said James Newby, NMITE chief operating officer. “Over and above that, it showcases our credentials as an organisation with ambitions to transform the skills and lives of local people here in Herefordshire.”