Who?
HomeHaven was created by the following three data science students from Maastricht University: Fabio Barbero, Moritz Gehlhaar and Simone Schouten. Fabio is fascinated by sustainability and technology. His expertise is maritime environment. Moritz is living on a sailboat himself. His energy and passion gave this project no limits. Simone has a lot of nautical experience and a strong background in project planning.
What?
Retired life boats from decommissioned cruise ships are a significant source of non-recyclable waste in the marine industry. Despite being fully functional and designed for offshore use, there is currently no use for the large number of retired boats, leaving them to rest on boat graveyards.
These life boats can be converted into cozy tiny houses. By adding interior design, windows, insulation, and sustainable elements such as a heat pump and solar panels, these boats can provide affordable and unique housing options in the competitive Dutch housing market. These renovated boats can be rented and placed in existing grachten and house boat docks. HomeHaven developed a progressive concept for utilising the open water environment for less use of resources. This includes:
- Using sustainable materials exclusively
- Installation of solar panels
- Efficient insulation for the winter
- Generating warmth with a heat pump using the water temperature.
How?
1. Lifeboat circularity: they want to provide a way of recycling GFK lifeboats entirely, something which is not possible traditionally.
2. Sustainable materials: All materials used should be of organic origin to ensure recyclability in the future.
3. Energy efficiency: The HomeHaven lifeboats contain many solutions to reduce and conserve energy. Intelligent thermal insulation is the key component for this.
4. Responsible development: They follow a construction process which restricts pollution as much as possible.