Refugee shelter start-up gets rapid development support

A START-UP company which is developing technology for use in the provision of humanitarian shelters for refugees and international disasters is one of the first companies to use a recently-launched advanced engineering centre in Cheshire.

The Science and Technology Facility Council’s (STFC) Daresbury Laboratory is providing UK businesses of all sizes, including start-ups, with affordable access to more than £2m of advanced engineering technology, including advanced 3D printing and rapid prototype assistance.

It is hoped that the Campus Technology Hub will enable businesses in the North West to develop new products faster and more cheaply.

Start-up company Taylor Garfit is one of the first companies to use the centre. It is developing technology for use in the provision of humanitarian shelters for refugee scenarios and international disasters where rapid deployment is critical.

Richard Taylor, design director at Taylor Garfit, said: “In 2015 I visited a refugee camp in South Sudan to see if there were any opportunities to use my design expertise to improve the shelters built by refugees. Humanitarian aid agencies typically provide displaced families with tarpaulins, rope, nails and a few tools with which to build a shelter. I quickly noticed that many families had problems in constructing a robust frame to support the tarpaulins.  Having identified this need, we have developed an innovative framing system to enable the construction of more robust and durable shelters.

Taylor said the assistance available from the STFC centre had been “absolutely critical” to the company’s rapid development of a shelter framing system.  

“Durability, weight and cost are all key to the success of our framing technology and, thanks to the CTH, we have been through 16 variants of our prototype in very quick succession,” he said.

“We have also developed a rigorous destruction testing rig in conjunction with CTH staff and have achieved a dramatic 20% increase in strength at each test stage. Over a six-month period, we have been able to move from concept stage to a position where we are now ready to start field trials, a timescale we certainly could not have achieved without the assistance of CTH.”

Professor Susan Smith, head of STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory, said: “The new Campus Technology Hub has one purpose –  to provide companies with affordable access to the best skills and facilities in engineering R&D so that they can solve their technology challenges to better compete on a national and international level. We can help entrepreneurs, small and medium companies, and more established businesses turn their brilliant ideas into reality.”