Rugby firm's ground-breaking defib installed on residential development site
A ground-breaking wind and solar powered defibrillator, designed by a Rugby firm, has been installed for the first time on a residential development site in the Midlands town.
Turtle Defib Cabinets has teamed up with charity the OurJay Foundation and developer Urban&Civic to introduce the potentially lifesaving cabinet at the Houlton site, which can be kept heated 24/7 even when there’s no electricity supply.
READ MORE: Rugby firm launches UK's first wind and solar powered defibrillator cabinet
For every minute that someone's in cardiac arrest without receiving CPR or having a defibrillator used on them, their chance of survival decreases by 10 per cent.
Mike Dowson, founder and MD of Turtle Defib Cabinets, who designed, engineered and installed the technology, said: "Developers and contractors can deliver far greater reaching benefits when they partner with local charities, and bespoke needs – like a lack of community accessible defib cabinets – can be uncovered and addressed.
"We’re delighted to help OurJay and Urban&Civic achieve their goals at Houlton and applaud them for their partnership.
"Location and an electricity supply is no longer a barrier when it comes to being prepared for cardiac arrest emergencies, and we thank OurJay Foundation for championing this message with our wind and solar powered defib cabinet in Houlton."
The OurJay Foundation was founded by Naomi Rees-Issitt after she sadly lost her son Jamie due to the lack of an accessible defibrillator nearby, which could have saved his life.
"We are so grateful to the team at Urban&Civic for seeing Jamie’s legacy and inspiration and making sure we could achieve this vital piece of life saving equipment for the Houlton community," she said.
"Heart safety is becoming so much more important to people and through our partnership with Urban&Civic, Houlton now have a defibrillator for every 300 units - this is very unique and we are very proud of this. Thank you also to Turtle for manufacturing such a fantastic idea in this sustainable defibrillator option.”
OurJay and Urban&Civic have already worked together to install defibrillators in the new community at the local schools and the village centre at Houlton.
But with a further 4,000 homes still to build at Houlton, the former Rugby Radio Station site, the charity approached the developer to introduce Turtle and their new solar and wind powered cabinet solution to enable defib access in construction areas.
Defib cabinets must maintain a temperature above 0 degrees, but above 10 degrees is recommended, so they need to be kept indoors or be in a heated cabinet if external.
Solar power alone cannot guarantee this in dark and cold UK winters so this new technology allows defibrillators to be installed in areas where electricity supply may be restricted like construction areas.
Turtle's solar defib cabinet is the 12th to be installed in the UK and the first on a residential development site.
The development of Houlton is a joint venture between master developer Urban&Civic and Aviva Investors. With over 1200 families now living on site as well as a village centre, community centre, two schools and a nursery, the Houlton community continues to grow with outline planning permission for 6,200 homes over the next 10 to 15 years.
