From academy to industry to user : engaging stakeholders in sustainable material development

The Art and Design Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University has been working with the sustainability agenda for a number of years, with much of its focus being on the development of new, innovative materials that afford designers new creative opportunities and provide significant benefits for green manufacturing. This paper describes two such projects highlighting the role played by including key stakeholders in the material development process.

The first, ‘TTURA™’ is a composite glass and resin material with some unique physical properties. The research team engaged with a variety of stakeholders to ensure the material would meet a wide range of end user requirements; trials included tests carried out by the waste glass industries, resin manufacturers, flooring contractors, architects, commissioning agents and end users. The second case study, at an earlier stage of development than TTURA™, takes the same user-centred research approach of engagement with stakeholders. ‘BioChair’ is a project exploring the possibilities for fibre-reinforced composite biomaterials, initially in collaboration with a government research institute. The research focussed on the development of a new bio-based polymer, with the aim being to understand the interactions of polymers with wood and pulp fibres and the effects on production processes and material performance.