Designs for a centre that aims to cement Tyneside’s place in the renewable energy industry have been unveiled.
The Northern Renewable Energy Centre of Excellence hopes to highlight the region’s skills and expertise in low carbon energy. If it wins funding and planning permission, it would form part of the Holborn Renewable Energy Network in South Shields.
The network - which is being developed in collaboration with South Tyneside College, Durham, Newcastle and Northumbria universities and the UK Coal Authority - will use a combination of technologies, harnessing heat from abandoned flooded mines, as well as from the River Tyne and is expected to save 4,800 tonnes of carbon a year.
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FaulknerBrowns architects have been developing the designs, following a successful bid by South Tyneside Council to the North East Local Enterprise Partnership’s Project Development Accelerator Fund. The 220-sqm triangular building would provide a venue for educational visits, skills training and research, and will double as a visitor attraction.
Visitors would have direct views from the main atrium into the energy centre and would be able to observe the plant, as well as seeing the boreholes, thermal stores, the river water pump area and PV solar panels from the roof terrace. The visitor experience would include interactive displays as well as opportunities for teaching and learning.
Coun Margaret Meling, lead member for economic growth, skills and climate change at South Tyneside Council, said: “South Tyneside is ideally placed to develop this exciting project. This centre would reinforce South Tyneside’s position at the forefront of pioneering technologies and underline our commitment to sustainability.
“It would be a key venue for skills development, particularly STEM skills, from primary through to higher education, allowing students to observe the energy network working in practice and inspiring them about careers in the green economy.”
The venue, which forms part of the council’s £20m South Shields bid to the Levelling Up Fund, will also feature a ‘green’ roof planted with vegetation and a flue stack. It would allow residents to access training and skills provision around designing, implementing and operating energy networks and, and in particular, help older workers to reskill into green industries.
Coun Tracey Dixon, leader of South Tyneside Council, said: “This centre is a key component of our three-part Levelling Up bid, which aims to showcase our expertise, boost footfall and visitor numbers and ensure residents have access to the skills and training to provide a clear pipeline for new green jobs.”
It is envisaged that the centre would create 47 temporary construction and design roles, in addition to around 40 permanent jobs, including academics, operation and maintenance technicians and front of house staff.
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