Old boy’s Queen’s Award

AN armoured safe haven designed to protect against a terrorist attack has won a company set up by former Wellington School student Mike Samways the Queen’s Award for Enterprise.

Mr Samways, a former Royal Navy mine clearance diving officer, won the accolade for innovation in his firm, Crewshield . Its Citadel product is indistinguishable from an ordinary shipping container but it offers safety for up to 25 people for 96 hours, with air conditioning, lighting, sanitation and communications systems.

Initially, the containerised units were designed to be a safe haven for the crews of merchant vessels to retreat into when threatened by pirate attacks, but Crewshield now provides safe havens to private companies, governments and the United Nations, with key export markets including the Middle East and North Africa.