Sir Ben Ainslie's Ineos Team UK makes more than 5,000 face shields for NHS workers
SAILING legend and Olympic gold medallist Sir Ben Ainslie has thrown his full support behind Ineos Team UK’s role in battling the coronavirus pandemic.
Engineering experts more used to designing boats for the next America’s Cup have turned their skills to making 5,000 face shields for NHS workers.
Team skipper Sir Ben, whose team is based in Old Portsmouth, said: ‘The entire Ineos family feels it is everyone’s responsibility to be hands on in this crisis by deploying resources and expertise to support the front line where best we can.
‘We have a lot of expertise in manufacturing and production and we therefore felt the best way for us to support was the production of personal protective equipment (PPE) face shields which will go direct, free of charge, to front-line staff in the team’s local area.
‘Our partnership with Mercedes-Benz Applied Science has been fantastic in enabling us to increase our production of these face shields and I extend my deepest thanks to them for all their invaluable support.’
The team is using its headquarters at the Camber Dock to manufacture 100 masks each day using 3D printers and machines normally used for sail making.
Team design engineer Ollie Pendleton said: ‘When we were approached asking for PPE equipment we immediately set about exploring how we could help.
‘We have two 3D printers at our base which at full capacity could produce around 100 headbands a day for PPE face shields.’
While the shields have been distributed to hospitals across the region, one of the first beneficiaries was Horndean Surgery.
Surgery GP Dr Mark Coombe said: ‘To help fight back against this global pandemic we have turned our surgery into a red-zone clinic where we will assess and treat patients with Covid-19 symptoms on-site to take pressure off of the local hospitals.
‘Through my relationship with Ineos Team UK I approached them and asked if they could help and they have gone above and beyond, now producing over 100 PPE face shields a day.’
Chemical giant Ineos, which sponsors the sailing team, built a factory in County Durham in just 10 days to help supply hand santiser to hospitals and other frontline key workers.
Sir Ben added: ‘The work Ineos is doing in producing millions of bottles of hand sanitiser across Europe and distributing them free of charge to fron-tline staff has been inspiring to see.’