20 April 2007 Media Statement
An innovative earthquake protection device is being installed in new buildings at Wanganui Hospital in New Zealand, with its inventors also eyeing lucrative overseas contracts for the technology.
Two new single storey buildings to house operating surgeries and emergency
services at Wanganui Hospital are the first in the world to be fitted with
‘RoGliders’, developed by Robinson Seismic Limited in Wellington. The
device effectively puts the buildings on flexible bearings, allowing them
to move in a quake and preventing trashing of the interior during shaking.
This ensures that the hospital remains 100 percent operational after the
disaster.
The RoGlider has been developed by the founder of Robinson Seismic Ltd, Dr
Bill Robinson, who also invented the world’s first lead rubber bearings
(LRBs) 30 years ago, delivering technology that is now standard around the
globe to protect buildings during earthquakes. But, says Robinson Seismic
Chief Executive Officer Alan Wilson, LRBs are designed for heavy buildings
leaving a significant technology gap for smaller, mid sized
structures.
“Even small hospitals and other emergency centres need to be operational
straight after an earthquake disaster but there was previously no cost
effective way of fitting them with seismic isolation technology. We saw
the gap in the market both in New Zealand, where building codes related to
earthquake protection are getting tougher, and overseas.”
A contract to supply 90 of the new RoGliders for Wanganui Hospital
prompted Robinson Seismic to accelerate development of the technology,
with the government getting on board with investment through the
Foundation for Research, Science and Technology’s Technology for Business
Growth (TBG) scheme. Each RoGlider is 600 millimetres in diameter, weighs
around 100 kilograms and can support weight of up to 100 tonnes per
column.
Dr Peter Johnstone, a Director of Romulus Consulting Group which is in
charge of engineering the Wanganui hospital reconstruction, says the
RoGliders are providing a much needed means of securing the hospital’s
acute facilities during an earthquake.
“Making the surgical wing of the hospital earthquake safe was a key
requirement of the project. None of the existing technology was suitable
for the light, single storey structures being built so we were looking at
some kind of one-off, home grown solution when the RoGlider came along.
It provides the ability to safeguard essential facilities inside the
surgical and emergency buildings during severe shaking.”
Robinson Seismic says while a few competing products exist overseas, there
is nothing in the market with the range and capability of the new
RoGlider.
“New Zealand’s advantage is that we tend to develop and use less complex
and lower cost solutions which fit well with construction methods used in
developing countries. There is strong interest in our product from both
India and Turkey. India has signalled that new hospitals will require base
isolation and Turkey is moving towards retrofitting existing multi-level
buildings such as apartment blocks,” says Mr Wilson.
Robinson Seismic is also pitching its new device to global funding
agencies such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank which, says Mr
Wilson, are moving toward funding disaster mitigation rather than
reconstruction.
Robinson Seismic is likely to license manufacturers overseas to produce
its RoGlider and is targeting a global market worth around NZ$50 million
per year.
“Having the technology installed at Wanganui’s new hospital is an
excellent marketing tool as potential clients can see what we provide in
action,” says Mr Wilson.
The launch of the RoGlider, says Dr Barbara Webster, a Senior Business
Manager with the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, is proof
of the long term value delivered by government research and development
investment.
An estimated $NZ20 million of government money was invested specifically
in the development of seismic isolation technology at the now defunct DSIR
(Department of Scientific and Industrial Research) between the 1960s and
the 1990s. Investment has continued since then with the Foundation
providing funds for ongoing research at crown research institutes GNS
(Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences) and IRL (Industrial
Research Limited) and Robinson Seismic, which was spun-out from IRL in the
mid 1990s.
“New Zealand is now recognised internationally for its expertise and
knowledge in applying seismic technology and a cluster of engineering
earthquake businesses is successfully competing in overseas markets. That
is creating jobs and bringing in millions of dollars in foreign exchange
earnings.
“It has also delivered intellectual property that will go on delivering
returns to the New Zealand economy and is the basis for new innovations
like the RoGlider.
“Given the risks involved and the time it has taken to build earthquake
engineering expertise this important economic activity would not have
developed without the government making R&D investments over a long
period,” says Dr Webster.
The Foundation has invested $175,000 in the RoGlider project, through its
TBG scheme.
Further Information:
Alan Wilson, CEO, Robinson Seismic Ltd
Tel 04 569 7840
Email a.wilson@rslnz.com
Dr Peter Johnstone, Director Romulus Consulting Group Ltd
Tel 04 931 9120
Email peter.johnstone@romulus.co.nz
Janice Rodenburg, Communications Manager, Foundation for Research, Science
and Technology
Tel 04 917 7801
Email Janice.rodenburg@frst.govt.nz
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Foundation for Research Science and Technology
PO Box 12-240
Wellington, New Zealand
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