‘We know this works’: meet the British engineers who claim they can Covid-proof live venues

For those who’ve been missing their live music during the pandemic, some heartening news may have arrived for the New Year. A UVC light radiation system that safely fits into modern ventilation ducts, and can “deactivate” airborne viruses such as Covid-19 with up to 99.99 per cent efficacy, is to be trialled this month at London’s 100 Club.

If ratified, this technology, which has been developed by British company called Pathogen Reduction Systems, could be rolled out at speed as a central plank in the effort to make public buildings of all types, from hospitals and office blocks to hospitality venues and cultural centres, accessible again without the need for our current levels of social distancing.

According to the Sussex-based engineer, Ian Sinclair, he and his team at PRS began work on the system last April in response to the first wave of Covid-19. UVC light, he explains, has been used since the 1860s in water purification, both industrially and for more mundane tasks such as clearing fish-ponds of bacteria and algae.

“In the last 10 years or so,” Sinclair continues, “it has been used to irradiate hospital operating-theatres to try to kill viruses. My brother is a surgeon, so I was aware of its medical use. Because direct exposure to the light is harmful to humans, they clear the theatre, lock the doors and switch on the light.

“So in April, we had our eminent scientists look at the Covid-19 problem, and once it became clear that it was an airborne virus, it was obvious that we should adapt air-handling systems to incorporate this technology.”

In June, a study conducted by Boston University in conjunction with the lighting company Signify ascertained that an intensity of 5mJ/cm2 of UVC light was required to kill a virus. With that intelligence, Sinclair was able to create what he calls “an optical box”: it can be inserted into an existing air-con duct, so the recycled air passes through a fully sealed container filled with UVC rods, killing all viruses in the air on its way back into the room, without any exposure to those people present.

“It’s a proven technology,” says Sinclair. “We know it works. It makes the air you breathe inside as clean as it is [if you are] social distancing outside.”

Clearly, the PRS system has potential for making indoor spaces Covid-secure in the months ahead, and Sinclair says the company is “in discussions with a particular NHS trust currently under Tier 4 restrictions to trial [it] in hospitals, as well as three major construction companies in London, to make office blocks safer.”

This month’s groundbreaking trial at the 100 Club came about when Sinclair also approached Mark Davyd at the Music Venue Trust, having heard how that organisation was lobbying for the Government to subsidise hundreds of small British clubs and concert halls struggling to survive during lockdown.

For several years, David had been working closely with Jeff Horton, boss of the 100 Club, a famous venue whose sweaty, 350-capacity basement premises beneath London’s Oxford Street perhaps made it ideal for a stern test of Sinclair’s equipment. Horton says he “jumped” at the opportunity: “After all, we’ve been given help by the Government with the Cultural Recovery Fund, which saved lots of us venues from going down the pan, so I feel almost duty-bound to do this. After Covid, you can’t just think about yourself and your own interests anymore.”

Hence PRS is currently building a new air-con system for the 100 Club, complete with optical box, to be installed ready for the trial in late January. “We will go to the Government,” Horton continues, “and say, ‘We’ve installed this system, here is all the data, this is why it works, and we want to do a trial run with, say, 30 people in the room. Even though we’re in Tier 4 and all hospitality is shut down, will you allow us to do this?’ We’re pretty confident that they’ll say, ‘Yes, we’ve got to do it, because otherwise the country will end up bankrupt after another six months of this.’

“If that first gig is a success,” he adds, “we’d then do a couple more with maybe 60 people, and so on. To start with, I imagine we’ll have the same precautions in place as we did under Tier 3, where people from one bubble have a table together, with tables two metres apart, and you wear facemasks on the way in and out. Then we can practice with no social distancing, and eventually with a full room of people, maybe three or four months down the road – that's what I'm hoping for.”

Even if the trial is an unreserved success, both Sinclair and Horton are quick to point out that the likes of PRS’s system will be only one string to society’s bow in beating the pandemic. “Just as the World Health Organisation are saying about vaccines,” says Sinclair, “it’s only part of the solution, along with improved hygiene, rapid testing and all the rest – this layering of measures to protect people.”

And, as with the vaccine, Sinclair and co are already facing up to the challenges involved in the roll-out. “We are fully ready for production,” he says. “We’re confident we can produce and engineer these boxes as the orders come in, working with two or three of the largest air-con duct manufacturers in the country.

“But if somebody wanted to approach our company to franchise it or license it, I would have a conversation in 10 minutes. Obviously, we as a company have to protect ourselves in some form after the investment we’ve made in time, money and effort, but at this stage I’m more interested in saving people’s lives.”

At music venues with existing air-handling systems, Sinclair estimates that the process of installing his system could be “as quick as two weeks, and typically costs around ￡20-25,000. If they don’t have existing air handling, we would design a bespoke system for them and install that.

“Subject to the size of the floor and other specs,” he adds, “that could be as much as ￡60,000 to do, but there’s the option to do it on a lease, or hire purchase. It sounds like a lot of money, but if you can get a building open again and the revenue coming back in, over the technology’s lifetime of 15 to 20 years, it’s relatively cheap.”

He suggests that, since UVC deactivates other viruses including MRSA, measles, TB, NORA viruses and common flu, the potential for this system in wider society, particularly hospitals, is colossal. In the shorter-term, however, across Britain and beyond, he hopes that it can be the magic box that gets our music venues rocking again.