Cross-Bone is a reusable plastic version of the traditional timber system which reduces the amount of timber wasted through the construction process

Brighton-based Thirty Limited has been one of the first companies to go through the GreenThink! process, a service run by a university research centre to help stimulate innovation.

Thirty Limited was founded by John Turner, who has worked in the environmentally friendly field for the past 15 years. It offers sustainable product design consultancy and project management.

John turned to the Centre for Sustainable Design, a research centre based at the University for the Creative Arts which has campuses across Kent and Surrey, for help in bringing a newly devised product called Cross-Bone to market.

John explains: “In the construction industry timber has traditionally been used to help profile a site. If you drive alongside some roadworks you might see timber nailed into a T-shape stuck into the ground to mark the position and height of the new road.

“This usage of timber is widespread, and not particularly environmentally friendly as the timber is thrown away after a couple of uses. My product Cross-Bone is a reusable plastic version of the traditional timber system, which aims to reduce the amount of timber wasted through the construction process. I wanted to use external expertise to look at the manufacture of Cross-Bone and how its environmental impact could be reduced still further.”

The Centre for Sustainable Design has received funding from South-East England Development Agency (SEEDA) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to provide free advice to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who want to develop greener products or services.

It has devised a special process, known as GreenThink!, to help stimulate sustainable innovation and design. Companies that have already participated in the GreenThink! process range from a design agency and consultancy to others involved in building services, construction products and low carbon futures.

Companies participate in a workshop with a range of stakeholders both internal and external.

Martin Charter, Director of the CfSD explains: “Companies find it really useful to have input from such a wide range of people. We start the sessions with exercises designed to stimulate new ideas, then later in the workshop we really drill down on several of those ideas, looking at how they could be implemented in practice.”

John said: “My Greenthink! workshop brought together sustainable product design students and directors of companies in the same sector. I took away some ideas on the manufacture of the product and how that could be made more green. In particular I gained new ideas for the packaging, and also learnt more about sustainable materials such as bamboo. These ideas will also feed into any new products I develop.

“Cross-Bone consists of two parts: a T-shape and a spike to hold it in the ground. During the workshop it was identified that the spike could have various uses and could be marketed on its own.”

GreenThink! is a free service offered to small and medium sized businesses in the South East.

Related categories:  Construction waste recycling 

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