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North East aviation salvage firm feature on Channel 4 Kevin McCloud show

An aircraft salvage company based at Durham Tees Valley Airport has featured on TV personality Kevin McCloud’s new ‘Supersize Salvage’ show.

The presenter and his team of three designers used aircraft parts to create new items, from richshaws to rocking chairs, with the aim to use every part of the plane - leaving nothing for scrap.

The project is part of a fundraising effort staged by Sycamore Aviation CEO Kevin O’Hare in support of the charity that is helping his five year-old daughter Katie in her battle against cancer.

Kevin and his team used around 2,000 pieces from an A320 aircraft which had been removed transported to a workshop in London for the show.

While an A320 of its vintage is worth between $1 million and $3 million, the scrap value of this plan ewas £15k.

As CEO of an AFRA-accredited teardown company, Sycamore Aviation, O’Hare had access to the aircraft and the means to disassemble it – which he also did for free.

The ‘upcycled’ items will now be sold and 15% of proceeds will go towards the children’s charity Neuroblastoma Children’s Cancer Alliance (NCCA).

O’Hare said: “That was the deciding factor that convinced me to do this. I was always hopeful that they would make interesting items and maybe get retailers involved, but the thought of raising money and profile for this small charity clinched it for me, especially as they have helped us as a family over the last three years.

“Having the career break from being a pilot to look after Katie during the worst of her illness also helped me start the business – so there is a link between the illness, the charity, and the business, which ultimately led to the programme.”

McCloud wants the finished pieces to look different from the plane itself, and its parts. “It’s very important that we don’t take bits of the plane, polish them up and just sell them as a paperweight,” he said.

The team – including its three designers – certainly achieved that. Paul Firbank, salvage designer, makes household objects such as lights from industrial equipment; Harry Dwyer, designer and electronics engineer, makes more ‘fanciful’ pieces and was the brains behind creating a rickshaw and rocking chair from the components.

Lastly there’s Max McMurdo, who calls himself an up-cycling entrepreneur. “Max’s approach is entirely different again,” said McCloud. “He takes sections of the plane and turns them into buildings.” One of McMurdo’s finished pieces was a polished gazebo made from strips of windowed fuselage.

Kevin added: “We will look to keep doing this for maximum recyclability, and not just melting down for tin cans, but for a worthwhile use.

“We think there is an actual commercial venture in providing this material. Even if we don’t continue with the full airframe, we will certainly start with a select number of items and materials.”

The televised project has already drummed up business. A new bar and club in London took about 100 seat pans on wooden legs as bar stools.

He has also been in talks with a high street shop that would like to order a certain part to be made into a household object

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .