Sleep Pod

A Sleep Pod emergency shelter, intended to be made available to outreach teams and charities for distribution to rough sleepers and refugees that have been unable to access accommodation through existing services. The Sleep Pod charity was founded by friends Ian Ashby, Justin Devereux and Pete Kenyon whilst they were volunteering in refugee camps in Europe in 2015. On returning back to the UK, they saw rough sleepers experiencing similar problems and made the decision to try to design a simple, effective solution for preventing people from succumbing to exposure on the streets. The one-person temporary shelter was developed over a number of years with prototypes, extensive testing and adaptation, being first launched in 2018. Easily constructed, the charity rely on volunteers to both fund and make the pods, and had to adapt their manufacturing processes due to the covid lockdowns by introducing 'Build At Home' projects. The lightweight, rain and wind-resistant pods are made from a double-skin, aluminium foil backed polyethylene (PE) plastic bubble-sheeting, taped together over a bamboo cane frame to form a long triangle with one end sealed and the other a velcro controlled entrance. The material successfully insulates the body and can achieve an internal temperature of 5 degrees celsius (an equivalent next-to-body temperature of 22 degrees) whilst external conditions drop to -16 degrees. The charity has formed relationships with over 80 partner organisations across the UK and Europe to issue the Sleep Pods, with 6500 being made by over 3000 volunteers by 2022.

printed: "Sleep Pod. For dreams of a better future." (cover)

AIBDC : 009273