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Design, Sustainability and Business - Research-through-practice informed by practise as

research

This research explores the influence of the early design stage on the environmental impact of products and the roles and interactions of key players in minimising this impact during the new product development cycle.

This body of work is unique in that it brings together the findings of two Government funded research initiatives (the Deep RED (Resource Efficient Design) and Retail Lab research initiatives) and a commercial design research commission for a short life retail display system for the Robert Horn Group (all proposed and undertaken by the investigator). It applies design research methodologies, in which the investigator is a leading authority, to utilise practice based design research to inform theory. The Deep RED project incorporates specific environmental design research projects for EON, Travis Perkins, Primarius UK, Scott Bader and Antone; the Antone project being further developed as part of Retail Lab research, eventually becoming a specific commission for the Robert Horn Group and a patent application (GB1216474.5)

This research confirms that a product's environmental impact is largely established in the concept stages of the new product development (NPD) cycle, it identifies issues concerning the use of environmentally sustainable materials relating to cost and availability and also identifies that there are significant opportunities not only to reduce the environmental impact of products but to reduce costs in so doing. In addition findings from this research highlight issues in supply chain communication and collaboration relating to supply chain management and in particular how this could relate to UK Design Consultancy and the use of Life Cycle Analysis tools. Findings have been disseminated by patent and culminated in two international conference papers and two international journal publications.