Lesson in altruism is a clear success SCOTTISH SCIENTIFIC GAME-CHANGERS
Cutting edge technology at City of Glasgow College is being used to produce PPE for new ‘Viseup’ coronavirus initiative
HUNDREDS of frames for safety visors are currently being produced each day by staff at City of Glasgow College – as part of an inspiring new PPE campaign supported by a number of high profile Scottish organisations and stars such as actor Robert Carlyle.
The production of the visors is a collaborative effort with Glasgow arts and music venue, SWG3, and the Innovation School at Kelvinside Academy.
It was decided to utilise the college’s two lasers during the pandemic after an approach from one of the institution’s external industry stakeholders who was involved with the Kelvinside Innovation hub during the early stages of developing a network of companies and educational centres to produce visors.
As well as laser cutters, the college has 3D scanners, 3D printers, and high definition wax printers and is now looking at how the 3D printers could be used for other aspects of PPE development as part of the Viseup initiative.
“The process - from freshly cut sheet to being boxed - takes under 12 minutes and involves using the laser cutters used by the creative industries’ students at the college’s City campus,” explained Eddie Carr, Associate Dean for Design at City of Glasgow College.
“Our students normally use them to accurately cut out components for models or design prototypes as part of their design projects. Jewellery and interior design course students also use them for elements of their project work.
“Learning gained from this experience will be used as part of future curriculum development in preparing our students to be more adaptable and agile in meeting the challenges expected of a diverse and ever changing industry.”
Staff at the college spent about three weeks in April working on the first visor design which was made using acrylic for the frame and acetate for the visor.
“We are now moving onto an improved design method, using polypropylene which will be more economical and less wasteful of materials,” said Eddie.
“Overall we have approximately 20 design staff working five days a week from 9.30am to 3.30pm to produce the frames. We set up a rota with just two people working at any one time to help maintain the social distancing measures. Initially we began by making 250 frames a day but we’ve now increased this to 400.
“At the end of each week our frames are taken to the main hub at Kelvinside Innovation School where they have the acetate visor attached, are cleaned and boxed for dispatch. A range of organisations and education centres are involved in making the visors and it’s fantastic to see the boxes for all the different hospitals and other frontline services ready to be picked up. The demand is unbelievable with requests for visors coming in every minute.”
The Viseup initiative has set up a process where large multiple sheets of material are sourced and delivered to a city centre firm, Easy Cut, who cut them to the required sizes for the relevant ‘makers’.
These are then delivered by local delivery company Badaboom. The same company pick up the completed visors and deliver them to the relevant front line staff.
Carr said the initiative was a perfect example of the importance of working in collaboration across multi-disciplinary areas.
Owner of Glasgow venue SWG3, Andrew Fleming-brown, organised a gofund campaign at www.gofundme.com/f/jyn2feemergency-ppe-for-the-nhsfundraiser to support the supplying of materials and production.
“OVERALL WE HAVE 20 STAFF WORKING FIVE DAYS A WEEK TO PRODUCE THE FRAMES
It has raised almost £84k which is going directly into producing the laser-cut visors for NHS workers, carers and key workers across Scotland. Actor Robert Carlyle has also produced a video in support of Viseup.
The network of schools and businesses involved in Viseup along with City of Glasgow College include the Innovation School at Kelvinside Academy, SWG3, Badaboom, Clydeside Distillery, Hydro-c, Intelligent Façade Engineering, Glasgow School of Art, NHS Scotland, Morrison Construction, Loft Office, Urban Office Architects, Peter Drummond Architects, Larbert High School and Caldervale High.
NHS staff or Healthcare workers should email orders@viseup.com to request urgent PPE for next day delivery.