“In fire protection, cost-effectiveness is always in tension with full coverage. To date, this has meant that cost-effective solutions were not generally developed or deployed in domestic settings. Plumis believes that a cost-effective fire suppression solution can provide most of the benefit of full-home coverage for a fraction of the cost and may enable protection to be provided in places which otherwise would have none at all. This is especially worthwhile in high-risk environments like student accommodation, in small self-contained living areas like studio flats, and for vulnerable people such as the elderly or disabled.”

Sarah Bloch from the Times reports on Automist after she had a demonstration of the innovative solution to domestic fire at the Cheltenham Science Festival. Watch the video and read her full write up, here.

Plumis Ltd displayed Automist at Grand Designs Live London, the no. 1 consumer show for design and innovation held at Excel London 1-9 May 2010.

Plumis is working with manufacturers and distributers to launch the product at the end of summer 2010.

- Plumis broker a partnership with AT Care (Tuesday 5th January 2010)

ATcare is working with Plumis to assist the introduction of the Automist fire suppressant system to people living in sheltered accommodation and residential facilities who may have reduced mobility and are at greater risk from fires in the home.

- Third Party Fire Testing at the BRE (Tuesday 8th December 2009)

The system has begun comprehensive third party testing at the Building Research Establishment (BRE) Burn Hall in Watford. Over the next eight weeks the system will be tested in two different room sizes (both 4m x 4m and 8m x 4m) and in a number of different fire scenarios. The project was completed with the aid of Knowledge Connect.

‘Throughout this project BRE has found the business to be highly professional, communicative and willing to engage in open discussion about the test programme. This has lead to the most appropriate tests possible being performed within the confines of time and funding, and thus one of the most complete sets of data BRE has been able to produce in recent years.’

- Recognised by BBC Focus Magazine as one of the Best British Innovations of 2009 (Wednesday November 18th 2009)

BBC Focus Magazine recognised Automist as one of the best British innovations of 2009. According to the magazine, Automist is a project that is likely to have great impact on the world within the next few years. An article with a brief overview about the project was included at the BBC Focus Magazine, Issue210, December 2009.

- Awarded a BIS Gold Medal (Saturday October 17th 2009)

Automist ia awarded a BIS Gold Medal at the British Invention of the Year Awards 2009.

- Automist is exhibted at the NESTA Innovation Exhibtion (Tuesday October 13th 2009)

The Automist is available for private viewing at NESTA (1 Plough Place, EC4A 1DE) till Monday 16th of November.

- The James Dyson Award 2009: Automist Press Coverage (Sunday September 20th 2009)

Automist James Dyson Award Winner 2009 has been featured in the Telegraph, Fire Safety Engineering, Gizmodo, Wired, The Guardian, Fast Company, Business Week, Dexigner, imdb and Core77.

- Awarded the James Dyson Award 2009 (Monday September 7th 2009)



The project survived four rounds of judging, beat over 400 projects from 21 countries, and was chosen by James Dyson as the best project in the Award.

James Dyson said: “This simple but clever device should become a permanent safety feature in the home. Smoke alarms are essential part of modern life but have remained fundamentally unchanged for forty years. Automist not only detects a fire but can put it out as well.”



To view the competition entry visit link.

- Plumis attend G2i Programme (Autumn 2009)

Plumis team went through the G2i Investment Readiness programme in order to prepare for seeking equity investment.  The team were keen to test their route to market strategy and ensure it would stand up to investor scrutiny. 

- Fire testing completed (Wednesday Jun 3rd 2009)

System testing at the Little Rissington Still Air Test Facility.

- Early Prototype testing (Monday Apr 20th 2009)

Automist component testing.

- Awarded place in Design London Business Incubator (Friday Oct 3rd 2008)

Plumis Ltd awarded funding and a place in the Design London Business Incubator. Design London is a new international centre for design led innovation. Plumis Ltd were selected from a larger number of project proposals from graduates from the RCA, Imperial College and its Business School. Design London's aim is to support innovative projects with commercial potential and help them develop interdisciplinary business ideas, introduce them to a network of mentors, specialists and sector experts and enable them to work with industry partners to enhance their creativity.

- Awarded a "Design for our Future Selves Awards 2008" (Tuesday Jul 1st 2008)

The Lord Snowdon Award is a special award for disability projects across all categories, personally made by Lord Snowdon, former Provost of the Royal College of Art. Lord Snowdon is a longtime supporter of the rights of disabled people and works actively in the field of design for disability.

Judges Comment: "Disabled people are particularly vulnerable in fires. This project makes an ingenious and well-resolved use of existing water mist technology to create a system for all types of environment."

- Won the New Business Challenge 2008 (Thursday Mar 13th 2008)

Student entrepreneurs win first prize in a college-wide business plan competition, organised by Tanaka Business School.

Rector of the College, Sir Richard Sykes, said, “This is a great event, because entrepreneurship is at the heart of what Imperial is all about, and what it has always been about. We carry out ground-breaking fundamental research, of course - but we also have our eye firmly on how our work can be applied to benefit people wherever they may be, improving quality of life in big or small ways.” He added: “Innovation is about seeing the opportunities which are often simple ideas.”

Sabrina Kiefer, Business Plan Manager at Imperial’s Entrepreneurship Centre, explains how they chose the winning team: “The panel of judges believed the finalists had the passion to succeed as a team, use the money to grow their business and develop a compelling product to solve a market need."