Simon Nicholls (Omlet Ltd), Designer of the “Beehaus”: The Beehaus is specially designed for keeping bees in your garden or rooftop. Developed using a range of plastic materials and technologies to provide your bees with a safe, modern home in which to live it makes beekeeping straightforward and fun.
A revolutionary, lightweight and environmentally friendly kerbstone system has been announced as the winner of the
Horners’ Award for Plastics Design and Innovation 2008. The judges of the Horners’ Award were greatly impressed by
the overall design concept of the ‘Durakerb’ system which is manufactured from a blend of recycled polymers, and aims
to help specifiers and contractors comply with Government requirements for sustainable buildings.
Phil Sutton, Managing Director of Durakerb, adds: “We are delighted to have won the Horners Award for Plastics Design
and Innovation as we have a strong commitment to the highest standards of environmental performance throughout our
entire product range and throughout each product’s entire life cycle. Durakerb is a cost-effective solution not only
to the Health & Safety Executive’s Manual Handling Regulations but also to the ever increasing environmental performance
targets now commonplace throughout the construction industry.
A thermoplastics, injection – moulded, powered Golf Trolley was announced as the winner of the Horners’ Award 2007.
The conception and design of the Syclix instruments was inspired by surgeon John Wickham for minimally invasive surgery. Sovrin Plastics were then recruited to tool, mould and assemble the product.
Now in its 60th year the Horners Awards adjudicators used a well-proven scoring system and this year it was a casting vote which identified the UltraCane as the ultimate winner.
The UltraCane has been developed and manufactured in the UK by Sound Foresight Ltd. as an innovative cane to assist the visually impaired. It emits ultrasonic waves at all levels and these waves bounce off obstructions, causing a button within the handle to vibrate according to the proximity of the obstacle. Plastics are fully utilised throughout the product from the ABS hand piece, the folding carbon graphite cane and the nylon lower probe.
The worthy runner-up was the Pedalite submitted by Product Partners Ltd. Again, this ingenious device depended on the successful choice of several different polymers. Pedalite is a revolutionary bicycle pedal incorporating a micro dynamo which generates a current as the pedal rotates. The EMF is used to illuminate flashing warning lights (LEDs) within the pedal which continue to flash for a period after pedalling ceases.
The EGLU Chicken coop (featured in PRW 4th June 2004) has now also been adapted to accommodate other small animals such as rabbits and hamsters. Seven of the structural components are rotationally moulded by HP Mouldings in HPDE in a range of elegant colors.
The EGLU is more than a cosy, fox-proof hen coop since with its hollow walls it is part of a sustainable food chain. It can be delivered direct to your home, together with a pair of hens and enough food to start them laying eggs. This young company - called Omlet Ltd.- certainly deserves continued success.
One of this years most outstanding entries and the ultimate winner was the Vent-Axia® Air Minder. This whole-house heat recovery ventilation system effortlessly removes the home's polluted air.
The main unit had to be light in weight in order to ease installation and plastics became the first choice material. Two ground-breaking design features were developed, firstly the major ABS outer casings were overmoulded with expanded polystyrene in order to ease the air flow and improve the insulation and quiet running of the unit and secondly, the traditional bulky aluminium heat exchanger was replaced by an automatically assembled series of concatenated thermoformed PVC baffle plates which now outstrip the performance of metal equivalents.
Both of these manufacturing techniques have now been patented.
The Air Minder can greatly reduce the energy needed to heat the home and will have a positive environmental impact when installed in new buildings.
A new innovative system for mixing and preparing refinish material prior to spraying. This system features a plastic disposable reservoir and associated fittings which greatly improve the efficiency of the spraying system.
The World's first single piece PET can entered by the RPC Containers Ltd. Judges chose the plastic can because it has revolutionised the way lever-lid containers can be produced and conquered the limitations posed by current moulding techniques.
'Inventa' - an innovative education aid entered by Valiant Technology Limited which makes extensive use of injection moulded Polystyrene and Polypropylene parts.
A new concept design for a 60 litre Supermarket Shopping Trolley which was developed by a consortium including the Industrial Design Consultancy (based in Slough), Dupont Engineering Polymers (based in Hemel Hempstead), Plasto AS (Norway) and Carte 2000 (Australia).