Harry Blakiston Houston founded Insulate Ukraine after developing a design for shatterproof windows with insulating benefits, which can be put together in 15 minutes (Image: Insulate Ukraine) A Northern Ireland man has now brought over 5,500 Ukrainian civilians back to their homes in the war-torn country, thanks to bespoke plastic windows. It all started in December 2022 when Harry Blakiston Houston from Co Tyrone read an article in the New York Times stating that, since Russia's invasion the previous February, one of Ukraine's biggest problems was windows being blown out by the fighting. There was no glass left, leaving many people freezing in their homes.
Along with colleagues from the University of Cambridge, where Gortin man Harry was studying for his PhD in Biotechnology, he set about designing a window using materials other than glass. READ MORE: Meet the NI student helping people in war-torn Ukraine with innovative window READ MORE: Man's journey from homelessness in Cork to owning a coffee shop in Belfast The frontline shatterproof windows were designed in the labs of Cambridge by Harry with insulating benefits, which can be put together in 15 minutes and only cost around £12. They are installed daily by civilian teams in Ukraine.
In January of last year, along with two willing friends - Louis Hall from Scotland and Edward Terry from Mississippi, USA - Harry travelled to eastern Ukraine to see if his glassless window solution might work. He previously told Belfast Li.
