Latest News December/January

The photo shows a novel way of displaying SunPipes at a recent Exhibition held in China, where visitors were invited into a tent which was just located at the Beijing Science and Technology Exhibition and even with these relatively limited facilities, the effect of the SunPipe can be clearly seen. SunPipes have now been specified for part of the Olympic Village and negotiations are continuing for other similar areas, since China is determined to show the next Games will be 'environmentally conscious' and will adopt as many 'green' energy approaches as possible. As can be expected, the interest in energy saving products is rapidly growing in China, where they recognise that they could possibly face a major uphill struggle in future years if they do not adopt environmentally conscious designs. This is certainly good news for SunPipes and Windcatchers!

More than 80 guests attended the official opening of the Monodraught Gallery at Nottingham University on 7th December. More than 30 Editors from various magazines were in attendance, together with a number of Professors both the University itself and elsewhere. Professor Riffat presented the opening address and again, endorsed his decision to nominate our Managing Director, Terry Payne, as a Special Professor of the University of Building Sciences. The opening of the Gallery was also the occasion for Monodraught to make its press launch of five new products, including Sola-boost, Sola-cool, Sola-wind and the Patented PowerTrack controller. All these new products will be released early in 2006, being currently still under development. Following the launch of the products and Professor Riffat's presentation, a tour of the facilities took place, including an inspection of the newly erected Monodraught Environmental Test Chamber, where up to 4N° SunPipes can be tested simultaneously at any one time. 20 of Monodraught's own Technical staff also attended the opening, since for many of them, this was the first time that they were able to view the full facilities that Nottingham University have on offer.

This year's Christmas trip found us in Amsterdam! Monodraught staff and their partners descended on the centre of Amsterdam for a wonderful three day experience. The picture shows approximately 80 of our staff all ready to leave the Hotel for a candelit dinner on two super canal barges. "Candelit" was almost an understatement when one of the menus was set alight by a candle but our 'Health & Safety Officer' soon had the matter in hand! One of the aims of the weekend was for personal gratification and self-assessment to find your "inner self". Many "found" themselves in the Red Dragon Club in Central Square! But with a trip to the flower market and a trip round the Heineken Brewery a good time was had by all. How some people can keep it up until 6 o'clock in the morning is a mystery but everyone came away a little wiser after the event.

We always try to look after our customers but the letter shown below does somehow seem to sum up so many of the qualities and principles that we try to promote. As it happened Julie Mitford and her partner live next door to a very 'prickly' neighbour who thought that our Diamond domes on top of our standard lead flashings projected too much from the roof surface. We accordingly chopped off 2" from the top of the lead flashing, which suited the roof construction on this particular cottage but it is so nice to see how this particular customer reacted.