Newcastle’s Energy Academy set for green light

Approval is recommended as North Tyneside Council considers Shepherd Offshore’s application for an £8.5m educational facility aimed at boosting the region’s credentials as a green energy hotspot.

Funding for the project will come from the North East Combined Authority’s Investment Zone grant, with the £8,488,000 approved in June last year.

Newcastle College Energy Academy is a specialist renewable, subsea, and offshore engineering facility that works with businesses in the Tyne Powered cluster to provide specialist skills, training, and apprenticeships.

The new building will form a new energy campus, and will deliver skills skills training for the offshore, renewable, and green energy industries on the River Tyne Economic Corridor, with the expectation of attracting further private investment into key development sites.

Fairhurst has been supporting the application, which has been designed by Ryder.

The building will accommodate increasing student numbers, as the college expects the number of pupils to increase from 469 to 929 by 2030.

The site is parcel of land on the north side of Hadrian Road, which currently accommodates two industrial buildings and associated hardstanding within a fenced compound.

A demolition request for these buildings was submitted to the council in February, to make way for the new campus.

The site lies immediately adjacent to The Energy Academy building operated by Newcastle College, which sits directly to the west.