Concrete canvas shelter is designed to help military and aid agencies - <em>News</em>
Monday 15 January 2007
By Naomi Weston
An inflatable concrete shelter that can last up to ten years is being developed by three Imperial alumni who hope it will revolutionise aid relief in developing countries. The final full scale prototypes are being finalised to prepare for the structures' first field trials.
Alumni Peter Brewin and Will Crawford came up with the original idea. They graduated in July 2005 from the postgraduate course in Industrial Design Engineering, jointly managed by Imperial's Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Industrial Design Engineering at the Royal College of Art.
Their product, the Concrete Canvas Shelter, is designed to be used in emergency situations such as on the frontline of a war zone or providing shelter for displaced civilians after a humanitarian disaster. It is a hardened structure providing more protection than a standard tent and can be set up by two untrained personnel in less than an hour. The shelter is also insulating, secure and strong with earthquake resistant qualities. It can withstand a snowload, be buried to protect against shrapnel, and keep medical supplies safe in a secure and clean environment.
The team originally set up their company, Concrete Canvas Technology, in August 2005. In April 2006 the company secured first round equity funding and a DTI grant for Research and Development from the East Midlands Development Agency. It is currently seeking development partners to conduct field trials in April 2007.
Director Peter Brewin explains: "We are at an exciting stage in the development of our product. We now have full scale pre-production prototypes, which work extremely well and we are in talks with lead customers to arrange field trials. We are also approaching our second round of equity funding to raise the capital to build the first pilot plant. This will enable us to mass produce the shelters."
They have won numerous awards for their product including the Saatchi and Saatchi Award for World Changing Ideas in January 2006. Other awards the team have won include the Imperial College Ideas Challenge in 2004, the Imperial College New Business Challenge in 2005, a Deutsche Bank Pyramid Award in 2005, and the 2005 Helen Hamlyn Award for Creativity.
The Industrial Design Engineering course covers a very broad spectrum, from the design of prosthetic medical appliances to communication products, from garden shears to high speed railway locomotives. Will Crawford explains: "The course is a great opportunity to develop ideas with access to a fantastic range of resources, from workshops to academics, available at Imperial and Royal College of Art. The emphasis is very much on learning design by building a portfolio of real design work and working prototypes which enables students to develop their own intellectual property at the same time as gaining organisational and design skills."
Dr Roger Hibberd, course director, explains: "Peter and Will's Concrete Canvas development is a prime example of the objectives of the Industrial Design Engineering course. It was born out of the need for leaders in contemporary design to have skills that extend beyond design, materials and technology, to also encompass creative business, marketing and the role of the entrepreneur."
"We see Industrial Design Engineering as a cutting-edge discipline in which our graduates work at the centre of complex, demanding projects, juggling creatively in teams, to achieve great ideas, designs and successful products. The combination of technical and creative design skills that Imperial and the RCA provide is vital for this," Dr Hibberd adds.
For more information about Industrial Design Engineering at Imperial please visit the website: www.imperial.ac.uk/.../marcadicinindustrialdesignengineering
For more information about the course at the Royal College of Art please visit the website: www.rca.ac.uk
To find out more about Concrete Canvas Technology please visit the website www.concretecanvas.co.uk
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