Humanihut, a South Australian portable solution, takes national step in solving world refugee camps crisis
Humanihut founders Andrew Hamilton (left) and Neale Sutton with their portable autonomous emergency shelter village concept. Humanihut's award-winning design included a unique wall-folding system for easy transport and quick assembly. Its system had a clear long-term cost advantage (see green line in graph, inset bottom right) over tents and portable cabins.
Humanihut, the portable emergency shelter village concept developed in South Australia, saw its glocal possibilities boosted when it was selected by the Australian government in 2023 to be part of the first national emergency management stockpile, by providing shelter for more than 700 people and 1,400 emergency personnel when distasters hit.
After the first Humanihut base camp was bought for the South Australia’s State Emergency Service (SES) in 2018, it was put into action to support firefighters on Kangaroo Island during the 2019-20 summer. Purpose-built Humanihuts were used as hospitals in South Australia during the Covid-19 epidemic and they also were called on to provide emergency accommodation after the Lismore, New South Wales, and Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia, floods.
An autonomous Humanihut camp could be transported on trucks in six 20-foot shipping containers and could be assembled by five people and a forklift in four hours. A camp could include climate controlled dormitory huts that sleep up to eight people, bathroom containers, laundry, a community room and a canopy shelter.
Humanihut started in 2013 in Adelaide with a much wider vision – to help house the thousands of refugees in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.
Humanihut joint founder and managing director Neale Sutton, who spent 35 years in the Australian military, and particularly in East Timor (1999-2000), with senior roles in response to humanitarian crisis, had firsthand knowledge of the need for portable emergency villages. The Humanihut concept developed from 2013-14 after Sutton saw television images of thousands of Syrian war refugees being housed in tents and sheds with dirt floors: "That triggered me to start to consider in greater detail the need for a superior form of temporary accommodation."
Neale and his friend and later business partner Dr Andrew Hamilton saw the base camp as a starting point for the full-scale village for refugee camps of up to 2,500 people. The larger villages would have utilities huts to supply potable water, power, wireless communications and waste water treatment
Industrial designer John Brooks came on board with the concept, working with a town planner to refine details. Humanihut also was helped by Global Water, a South-Australian based company dealing in water and waste drainage solutions across numerous sectors.
The Humanihut Field Infrastructure System was designed with a unique folding wall system allowing eight huts to pack into a shipping container. Seals at all folds provided a complete environmental barrier. All components, accessories and necessary utilities were integrated to be rapidly deployed and set up. The system could operate independently without access to mains water, power, and wastewater infrastructure, or easily connected to main services
The Humanihut field infrastructure system was awarded Good Design Australia's best in class for engineering design and was a nominee for the award of the year for engineering design in 2018. It was overall winner in the design strategy category at the Business SA export awards in 2019, an initiative with Good Design Australia.
About 65% of each hut was made in South Australia with help from local companies Enviroclad and Kadego.
Humanihut was meant to be a long-term solution for refugee camps with a payback period of 3.5 years when compared to the cost of replacing tents in a refugee camp. Sutton said this would save the camp managers millions in maintenance and tent upgrade costs over its 20-year lifespan.
