CALAIS: A HOME FOR WINTER

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) are an NGO who are renowned for operating in in some of the most dangerous situations and environments around the world.

Six week ago MSF began operations in the camp at Calais. They were immediately impressed with our shelter project and subsequently asked if we would collaborate with them to build shelters. MSF have their own design which is quicker and simpler to produce than our orginal shelter design; however, as it uses more materials, it is more expensive. To overcome this problem MSF have agreed to provide materials to us, and we have now converted our workshop to manufacture their design.

The new partnership with MSF in combination with our existing partnership with L'auberge des Migrants has enabled us to double our previous production capacity, and we are now producing around 10 shelters per day - enough to house 50 people! The challenge now is to maintain a regular supply of materials and to ensure we have enough capable ground crews and members to assemble this many structures on site on a daily basis.

The whole manufacturing process is necessary because there isn't - as you might expect - a standard range of options for an off-the-shelf disaster relief shelter. Despite all of their resources and previous experience, MSF still did not have a shelter solution or design that they could call upon for this project. The design now in use has been concieved by our new operations partner, timber framing specialist Lionel Vacca. It is fantastic to be working with someone as experienced and knowledgeable as Lionel, who we can learn so much from.