Plans for Bolsover District Council’s new Green Skills Hub for Shirebrook residents have been given a design boost thanks to students at West Nottinghamshire College.

The council’s tourism and place lead, Therasa Garrod, and climate change officer Richard Winter met students on the Advanced Creative Media Practice (Digital Arts and Games Design) programme to see their progress on marketing designs, following a brief given to learners at the end of 2024.

Therasa and Richard set the group a challenge of producing a set of branding designs that could be used for marketing the Green Skills Hub, which is being funded through the UK Government Regeneration Fund and will help local colleges and employers to develop a green skills pathway from training to employment.

The hub, which will be situated on Portland Drive in Shirebrook, will accommodate demonstrator zones of existing residential/commercial buildings, training rooms to deliver accredited training for the installation of green technologies, and a workspace for training on additional green technologies, such as electric vehicles, solar panels, and heat pumps.

More than 25 media design students have created a range of logos inspired by nature, sustainability, and energy, using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator packages.

Digital arts and games design teacher Brian Wilson said: “It’s been great to have Therasa and Richard come in to see the work in progress. Students have been working on this project for about 10 weeks and it’s really helpful for them to get an input into how they’re getting along.

“They’ve already had some remote feedback, but to actually meet the clients that they’re working for is an important experience.

“They were given key information about the project and they’ve had to come up with all the ideas from scratch, from the initial formal sketches to the actual digital designs. They even chose the name – The Green Skills Hub.

“Following on from today’s feedback we will be putting designs onto some products to show the team at Bolsover District Council.”