UK Creates New Safe Design Prototype Pint Glass For Drinking

Two revolutionary prototype pint glasses designed to reduce the terrible injuries.

Caused by nearly 87,000 glass attacks each year were unveiled at the Design Council today by the Home Secretary Alan Johnson.

The safer pint glasses, designed not to shatter into loose and dangerous shards, have been produced under the Design Out Crime programme, an initiative from the Home Office’s Design & Technology Alliance Against Crime and the Design Council.

The revolutionary prototypes – world-firsts that feature new high-tech ways of using glass – will now undergo a range of intensive tests before they are ready to be piloted in pubs and bars.

Although alcohol related violence has fallen by 33 per cent since 1997 there remain 87,000 violent incidents involving glass each year, which in addition to the impact on victims, their families and communities, costs the NHS an estimated £2.7 billion each year. In total alcohol related violence is estimated to cost the UK between £8 billion and £13 billion a year.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson said:

“Glassing causes horrific injuries and has a lasting and devastating impact on victims and their families. I hope these designs will help bring an end to such attacks. While this is never going to be the only answer to preventing such violence, it is an important step forward which could also provide retailers and drinkers with a preferable alternative to plastic glasses.

“Tackling crime is not just about police action. Innovation and design also have a huge impact. Technologies like car immobilisers have helped cut vehicle crime by 57 per cent since 1997.

“I wish the Design and Technology Alliance and all our partners every success during the testing, and look forward to seeing the results.”

Designed to be safer, but also a more popular alternative to plastic, the two new designs are the first major advance in glassware for pubs since the 1960s. They are:

-Glass Plus – looks just like a regular pint glass but has a thin transparent coating of bio-resin on the inside. This makes it stronger and if the glass is broken it binds together dangerous shards – drastically reducing the likelihood of injury to customers and staff.

- Twin Wall – a revolutionary design, made by bonding two ultra-thin layers of glass together in a concept similar to laminated car windscreens. It makes the pint glass extremely difficult to break, but in the event that it does smash, any dangerous shards would be safely held together by a layer of resin.

Specialist design consultancy Design Bridge used early research results from InnovationRCA, the business network of the Royal College of Art, to help create dozens of initial concepts. These were assessed by leading glass manufacturers, materials experts, drinks producers and pub owners before the two final solutions were chosen.

Jeremy Myerson, Alliance lead on this project and Director of the Helen Hamlyn Centre at the Royal College of Art, said:

“This is a major step forward and an impressive example of using design to solve social issues and make communities safer from crime. These solutions have the potential to reduce serious injuries. What the designers have shown here isn’t the only solution to the problem – there are other ways to achieve a similar effect – but it’s about offering choice.”

David Kester, Chief Executive of the Design Council and member of the Alliance, said:

“There are many benefits here; these innovative new designs could help protect the public and reduce the burden of coping with glassing related injuries. In the current economic climate it is also good to see such a thorny problem turned into a global export opportunity for British business.”

The Alliance is a group of experts from the fields of design, industry and law enforcement whose task is to spark innovation and encourage others to ‘think crime’ in the first stages of product development.  It asked designers to develop pint glasses that were attractive to beer brands and pub operators, and that consumers wanted to drink from. The solutions also had to be safer than existing glassware.

David Helps, Director of 3D and Innovation, Design Bridge, said:

““The beauty of these glasses is that they keep everything British drinkers love about their pint; they look good, work better and are safer in front and behind the bar.”

Development of the prototypes and further safety testing under laboratory conditions will now take place before the glasses are tested in a pubs and clubs.

As part of the Design and Technology Alliance the Design Council is already in talks with major pub chains about trialling the Glass Plus glasses, which it is hoped will be ready within 12 months. The Twin Wall designs will be further refined in consultation with manufacturers to investigate possible large scale production processes.

Topics: 2010, bars, beer, Britain, computer technology, Council, crime, design, drinking, drunk, fight, future technology, glass, Governance, government, Great Britain, Home Office, injuries, innovation, moniter, monitor, new technology, news, NHS, pint glass, police, prototype, pubs, related, safer, science & technology, technology, U.K., UK, United Kingdom, victims, violence

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