‘Cutting edge’ tech at Newton facility

The ability to withstand Category 5 hurricanes, the potential for rainwater harvesting and the use of bio-methane to power the facility are among the features being built into Barbados’ Digital Innovation and Health Tech Hub.

Chief executive officer of Export Barbados, Mark Hill, described the technology in the round-shaped building being built at Newton, Christ Church, as “cutting edge”.

He said the “sprung structure methodology or tensile structure” was used by Tesla and the SpaceX in orbit, and was similar to the material used in the construction of Grantley Adams International Airport.

“So this particular technology actually has a warranty of 50 years on it. It is based on Teflon composites,” he said in a video interview in which he was joined by Minister of Industry, Innovation, Science and Technology Marsha Caddle.

“It’s woven, it’s impenetrable as a fabric is concerned, and then it’s tensioned very, very tight and insulated on the inside with more resistant insulation. So the issues that we have in Barbados with malls and buildings will not occur with this building because very often moulds and these other things develop because of humidity developing within the structure.”

Hill said it was already rated for Category 5 hurricanes from the Canadian installers and was further strengthened by making it round “so that therefore there is no flat surface by which the wind forces can have anything to push or pull onto”.

The shape, he added, allowed it to be built on three acres and brought another bonus.

“With so much covering capacity as far as the building envelope is concerned, you can imagine when the rain falls, lots of water would be available. So it gives us a big opportunity to harvest water and that we can push into other industrial processes going forward. So the technology as a structure really is cutting edge.”

Hill, who heads the entity formerly known as the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation, said a bio-hydrogen, bio-methane facility was also being built within the compound.

“And what that will be doing is taking a lot of agricultural waste. So be it the waste from the coconut vendors, who are just right there at the corner, so it does save on logistics of relocating those inputs, and converting that roadside grass and other industrial waste in the food space and converting that into bio-hydrogen and bio-methane that then powers the facility, at least a percentage of the facility,” he explained.

“We have industries in the area, such as the beer manufacturers that have a lot of manufacturing waste that can come to that facility; also lots of water, second-hand water that we can put into that facility. So the selection of Newton is not just by coincidence, it is because of the industrial ecosystem that lends itself to supporting this overall project.”

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