Harrogate College Business Newsletter – December, 2021
Harrogate College prides itself on working hand in hand with local businesses and organisations to provide the skills and training they need to ensure that our economy grows and thrives. Our monthly newsletter is a handy way of keeping our partners informed of developments at the college.
 Business Newsletter – December, 2021 Dear Partners, Welcome, as we start a new year full of exciting fresh opportunities, to our monthly newsletter. Harrogate College prides itself on working closely with businesses to provide an employer-led curriculum, and on helping to provide the green skills training that will be so crucial to our economy as we transition to a more environmentally supportive model. So we are proud to focus, in this month’s edition, on a new course that we are launching this month, which is focused on what is becoming an ever more important part of the sustainability toolkit – retrofitting. Our securing of Department for Education funding to run a retrofit course follows on from our key role in helping the Harrogate district stage its first ever Climate Action Festival last year, and reflects our commitment to both the green skills agenda and the local construction industry. We also have a number of Harrogate College Employers’ Network events to look forward to as we progress into the new year, and seek to consolidate our ties with our local business partners while exploring new opportunities. I hope you enjoy the read and look forward to working with you throughout 2022. Danny Wild Principal Harrogate College —————————–  Leading the way on green skills with our Retrofit course We are delighted to be launching a specialist new course, Foundations of Eco-Retrofit, that is designed to give local construction industry members a route into the ever-growing energy efficient homes market. Run by experienced retrofit contractors and experts from not-for-profit organisation, People Powered Retrofit, the two-day course is focused on helping small businesses and sole traders build on their existing knowledge and skills so they can carry out eco-renovation works. Those taking part will also benefit from meeting other local businesses, gain insights into how to stay up-to-date with the latest green building techniques, and learn how to find new retrofit opportunities. Harrogate College’s Partnerships and Development Lead, Holly Hansen-Maughan, said: “We are proud to be launching such a progressive course, and one that has been tailored to help those working in our local construction industry get ahead of the curve and be part of the green recovery. “This is a great example of how all of the excitement and networking which arose from last year’s Harrogate Climate Action Festival is translating into concrete action and movements towards positive change.” The first course takes place in January over two days, Saturday 22 and Saturday 29, and runs from 10am to 4pm. A second course will then be held in March, on Saturday 12 and Saturday 19. Places can be booked here. An £80 discount will be available to the first 15 course applicants – who should use the code ZEROCARBON80 – courtesy of Zero Carbon Harrogate. The college will also be hosting a retrofit awareness event in February, after staging a successful initial awareness evening, in partnership with Zero Carbon Harrogate, last November. It takes place on Thursday 17 February. Click here for more details. —————————– .  Bringing local businesses and the college closer together Representatives from a wide variety of businesses turned out for the launch of Harrogate College Employers’ Network in 2021, and there are plenty of forthcoming opportunities for more firms to get involved as the network (HCEN) heads into 2022. First up will be a series of industry-specific sub-group meetings that will be held at the college between Monday 14 and Friday 18 February. Designed to encourage fruitful dialogue between employers in similar fields, the sessions will cover Energy & Construction, Health & Social Care, Hospitality & Retail, Digital, Education & Training and Business & Finance. Each will also feature an open table discussion plus a chance to network while enjoying complimentary tea and cake. Then on Thursday June 16, existing and new members will be invited to meet to review the network’s progress to date, explain what kinds of courses and skills they would like the college to provide, and discuss future activities. Harrogate College launched the network as part of its ongoing work to deliver a truly employer-led curriculum, and participating businesses can help shape the courses, and skills, that are on offer. HCEN members take part in quarterly discussion groups and enjoy a range of benefits including course discounts, plus free advertising and promotion across the college’s media platforms. For more details about upcoming network events, and booking links, click here. —————————– We hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of our Business Newsletter – we’ll be back with more next month! |