In April 2024, plans were announced to demolish the main building at Hornbeam Park, which has been the home of Harrogate College since 1985. A green technology hub will be built in its place, promising a “centre of renewable and sustainable excellence” for the local community. The £22 million investment is part of a larger green effort in Yorkshire, and the UK at large.
Green Tech in Yorkshire
Across modern Britain, efforts are being made to improve internet penetration rates and bring the digital world to more people. With this comes a lot of energy demands, so green tech research aims to make the future industries of Britain cheaper to establish and run.
Having internet access will be vital in the future, as we’re already seeing it used for remote work. It’s also widely used for commerce and entertainment today, so customers and businesses alike rely on ready access. This is best seen with retail or iGaming websites, which use the internet for marketing purposes. They typically offer trials like Amazon Prime or free spins on Paddy’s Wonder Wheel, a digital game that offers daily spins to visitors at the site. Those offers don’t work if the average person isn’t online, but fortunately, the UK government has made efforts to close gaps in internet literacy between urban and rural areas.
In Yorkshire, Harrogate posts some of the best internet penetration figures that rival urban centres like Leeds and York. With more people online than in surrounding counties, the foundation is set for what could become a new tech hub in the future. Compared to other parts of the UK, Yorkshire has received a lot of attention from investors into its booming tech sphere. In Doncaster, a similar £24 million digital hub is set to be built by 2026 while Hull approved a £200 million green energy project earlier this year. Now a £22 million project at Hornbeam Park has been given the green light.
The £22 Million Project
After the 1980s main building at Harrogate College fell into disrepair, the North Yorkshire Council solicited plans that would put the run-down building to use. Now it has emerged that a green tech hub will be placed within the college’s grounds, where it can train future generations in creating and maintaining sustainable energy solutions.
Details of the final project are scant, but the proposal names an electric vehicle chop shop, a suite for researching digital tech and a mock-up hospital ward for med tech exploration. These are early signs that the new facility will have a wide scope, addressing and hopefully lessening energy demands across a lot of industries in the future. Estimates say the project will be complete in the summer of 2025, though it may arrive ahead or behind schedule. This isn’t the only green energy project happening around Harrogate, too – nearly 800 solar panels will get built in a deal between Mastercard and the North Yorkshire Council.
If North Yorkshire becomes the next British tech hub, communities in and around Harrogate can expect further investment into the area. This latest project will be critical in developing skilled workers, who in turn can support burgeoning tech spheres locally and beyond.
