North Yorkshire Council has approved plans to demolish the main building at Harrogate College and build a hub to train students in green technology.
The £22m proposals will see new state-of-the-art facilities at the Hornbeam Park college including a mock hospital ward, digital technology suite, electric vehicle workshop and a construction centre focused on modern building methods.
The college said it hopes it will become a “centre of renewable and sustainable excellence.”
Harrogate College, part of the Luminate Education Group, caters to a range of full and part-time students, including offering apprenticeships as well as education for adults.
The plans were approved by a council officer last week and the project is expected to be completed by July 2025.
Planning documents state the main office block that was built in the 1980s has fallen into disrepair.
The replacement will be 2,000 square metres smaller than the former building which documents said will make education more efficient and streamlined for students.
The plans received 28 objections with some people unhappy with a reconfigured car park that will see the number of spaces reduced from 242 to 88.
However, the college said there is an over-provision of parking at the current car park of 48%.
Danny Wild, principal of Harrogate College, said the approval was “great news for the college, town and North Yorkshire.”
He said:
“This £22 million redevelopment will enable us to upgrade our campus to enhance our industry-standard training facilities, including an electric vehicle workshop, mock hospital ward, and a renewable energy technology hub.
"It will help us provide even more targeted support for local employers by tailoring our training to produce the skilled workers they need to plug gaps and prosper.
“The main building phase of our project is set to be completed for the 2025-26 academic year and we look forward to welcoming students, parents and guests into our new campus.
“To minimise any impact in the local area we are instructing staff not to drive to college but to switch to public transport instead, and we will be covering the parking costs of all colleagues who do so. We will also be employing staff to patrol the local area to ensure things go smoothly, and disruption is kept to a minimum, during the construction.
“We’ll be formalising those details, and other arrangements including those for our contractors, as part of the conditions attached to the planning permission.”
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