December 8, 2022

A Level Product Design students are creating a series of prototypes for an Eco-friendly Hedgehog house for the White Rose Shopping Centre.

White Rose Shopping Centre have commissioned the Year 12 Product Designers to design and make a hedgehog houses to sit out in the woodland walk area that surrounds the shopping mall.

WRC are obliged to protect the wildlife in the local area and in line with their other biodiversity campaigns WRC are developing safe habitats for up to 38 hedgehogs that live in the woodland.

The brief has been to create a hedgehog house which is in keeping with the surrounding environment and is sustainable. It is essential that the product is designed to be environmentally friendly and it must not be detrimental to any aspect of animal care. The hedgehog houses will provide a safe haven for hedgehogs when they have emerged from hibernation or when they have their young. It will also provide them with a place of safety away from predators.

Working in teams, the students were tasked with developing hedgehog houses to help maintain biodiversity in the local area and promote conservation. Students were asked to develop design proposals and prototypes and pitch their ideas to clients. It was exciting for students to work with a real-world client like the White Rose Centre.

Adam Makda said: “It’s a big step up from working in a classroom to working with real clients – it’s totally different and it’s a move into the real world and to what I would like to be doing in the future.”

Representatives from the White Rose, Bob Ferguson and Pere Blythe heard the students’ pitches and encouraged the students to design using their own creativity while making a structure that was environmentally friendly and sustainable in order to promote hedgehog wellbeing.

Ali Hamza said “I like making things and I want to go into engineering so it’s a good way to get some early hands on training which can help me apply for engineering degrees in the future.”

Miriam Olutayo, Product Design teacher said: “The students did a terrific job working together and coming up with some great design ideas. The clients from White Rose were really impressed and gave them some great feedback to work with.”