Offering shelter to those in dire need

STRUCTURE CREATED IN CITY FOR EXPORT

- WILLIAM TELFORD

IT is cheap, easy to build, mobile, and surprisingly bijou Plymouth creator says the Bungolet could provide temporary shelter for homeless people and refugees.

Geoff Bersey has fashioned a prototype of the timber and tin cabin and now wants someone to "roadtest" it by living in it and giving thoughts of the experience.

Mr. Bersey, a director of Plymouth property development firm Compton Estates Ltd, came up with the idea for an emergency shelter that provides warmth and comfort when he was thinking of ways to help people in dire straits. He also says it could provide a solution for temporary workers in areas of the UK where there is a housing shortage.

"It's ideal for someone with nowhere to go, this can give them a temporary home," he said, "and, with the world experiencing even more frequent natural disasters, due to climate change, together with international unrest, we're seeing an increasing demand for emergency support. The most pressing need is for simple, inexpensive, emergency housing. This is why we've developed the Bungolet.

"I'm thinking of Ukraine, places like that - but this is a prototype, we want someone to try it out and come back to me, to road-test it."