Glenn Bevan, Managing Director of Infinity Design Development speaks to Open Forum’s Kate Williamson about Enviromesh; winner of the Australian International Design Award for Sustainability 2010.
Your company, Infinity Design Development, designs products for a variety of industries. Why did OzSafe originally come to you?
We have had a long history with OzSafe. They came to us with the idea to solve a major problem with using steel reinforcement in concrete, corrosion was the main issue but also, time to install the“chairs”, and the liability of chairs not installed at all. They approached our company to assist with the development right from the very start. They said “surely we could make this out of plastic or some sort of polymer to overcome these problems?”
Original ideas ranged from massive injection moulding machines, building 2400 x 1200 injection moulded sheets, right through to making small rods from different composites for engineering analysis. We experimented with different materials including glass filled nylon, and glass filled polypropylene from injection molded tools. Eventually a GFRP product was discovered that we could adapt to Enviromesh. At Infinity Design we created a chair that connected the intersecting rods to mechanically fix the product into a mesh form and also elevate the Enviromesh to the correct installation height.
What was one of the most important features of this design?
Enviromesh is lightweight, corrosion resistant, saves on installation labour and is a complete integrated system. Enviromesh didn’t need to come in at exactly the same price but comparable to steel mesh.
Steel reinforcement mesh needs to be elevated so that “chairs” can be placed at intervals to hold the mesh at a desired height in the concrete slab. The Enviromesh concept was to incorporate the chairs as part of the design. The chair is simply a plastic device that holds the formation of the mesh together and allows the mesh to be installed at the correct height .
The design appears quite simple. Did you wonder why someone hadn’t thought of it before?
Looking back on the design process, there was about a year or two of going down different blind alleys and coming up with different solutions that maybe couldn’t work and finally coming up with the correct solution which in hindsight seemed obvious. I think that is a sign that you have come up with a good design, when the solution is simple. The down side is that it is hard to justify what you have gone through to get there when the solution seems so obvious!
Enviromesh won the award for Excellence in Sustainable Design. What did you think appealed to the judges?
The overall aim was to try and reduce the affects of corrosion in buildings. The effects of "concrete cancer", when left for too long, can lead to significant damage, and very little can be done to restore the building. Many buildings need to be demolished and rebuilt. The idea was to come up with a new system that removed this risk and extended the life of commercial and residential buildings. The manufacturing process creates a small percentage of the carbon footprint of its competitors and this results in a huge reduction in potential waste.
Steel meshing may still be the only option for some environments, particularly earthquake prone areas.
Where is Enviromesh used best?
The system is best used for “slab on ground”, it is applicable for balconies and verandahs and also, buildings in coastal areas prone to corrosion problems.
It also has use in medical applications, in nuclear power stations, sewerage plant systems and any other applications where steel reinforcement can interfere with radio signals and sensitive magnetic equipment or be prone to corrosion.
Ozsafe Industries is currently looking to work with builders and engineers to help specify Enviromesh for their applications.
Glenn Bevan, Managing Director of Infinity Design Development speaks to Open Forum’s Kate Williamson about Enviromesh; winner of the Australian International Design Award for Sustainability 2010. 
