In June 2008 Steve Holland of SJH Projects was invited to Berlin to give a presentation to an international audience at a congress of blast specialists organised by the German company, Haverkmap. Haverkamp specialise in glazing and window film solutions for both blast protection and high level security.
Day one was a series of technical presentations, including Steve Holland’s paper on the protection of vehicles against underside blast and the test methods employed. The last sessions of day one were different stages of a practical exercise run by John Wyatt of SDS Group Ltd.
Day two was a demonstration of the capabilities of different glazing solutions against a 100kg explosive charge at 25m standoff. This was carried out at a disused airfield on the outskirts of Berlin. With any such test, there is a time gap between the blast event and visitors being able to review the outcome. This gap was filled with smaller scale demonstrations on the physical attack resistance of different types of glazing and on the threat posed by mail bombs and incendiary devices.