Member News
Look out for North East company OGEL who enter the lair of five of Britain’s best-known business people in the hit BBC investment program, Dragons Den on Thursday 8th July at 9pm.
OGEL have developed a system that turns waste plastic into anything from houses to flood defences to humanitarian shelters and garden offices, and what’s even better is that it’s reusable and you can turn it into something different each time… just like Lego®
‘We have been developing our product over six years’ explained founder Gary Giles ‘and a glowing endorsement, and potentially the offer of investment from one of the Dragons could give us the kick start we need as we launch across the UK from July.’
Despite a challenging year in 2020 developing the block-like invention under Covid restrictions, OGEL still managed to notch up a trio of successes: finalist in the European Recycled Plastics awards, North East Disruptor of the year for founder Gary Giles; the hat trick was completed when they were approached by the BBC to appear in the 2021 series of Dragons Den.
OGEL, and E3 Design, both based in the North East, alongside RAM Extrusion based in the West Midlands have developed the system to use 100% recycled polystyrene as its source material – the first ever to be globally patented.
‘A project of this size and scope requires a wide collaboration and luckily we’ve achieved this with a brilliant group of companies, coming together to turn a good idea into a fully working, game-changing product’ explained Gary.
‘The system is designed to be simple, fast, light, and reusable. Also the final OGEL buildings are significantly warmer than similar structures made of wood and brick’ he added.
OGEL launches with two products, TASKPOD, a home office designed for the new ‘work from home’ employee without the space for a dedicated room elsewhere in the home, and GARDEN LIVING a series of flexible garden buildings to enable families to maximise their outdoor area with the option to change the layout, or dismantle and transport if they move house.
‘To show the versatility of the system we’ve also designed and built a dog kennel that we call an OGHOUSE, but we’re so busy with the other products in the range that we may have to wait till 2022 before bringing the Eco Pooch Palace to market!’ said Gary
“When we manufacture in plastic, we are usually making the most throwaway items from the most permanent materials so it’s great to be recycling that waste into something with a longer life use, and the fact it can be used for humanitarian shelters and flood defence makes it a force for good as well’ added Gary.
‘2021 and beyond look very promising for OGEL with a number of orders already in place, and interest from Russia and Africa as well as UK markets.
A good performance in the Den and who knows where this could go?’ added Gary.
