![]() ![]() In addition to his research work and sustainable design teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate level in 2011 Ben took on the role of Course Co-Ordinator for Design Business Management BA. Within this post Ben has led the development of Sustainable Design teaching within BU Design and Engineering courses while continuing to research sustainable design issues including material and acoustic properties of recycled plastics and the design and use of local small-scale hydro-power around Poole Harbour. Ben continued to work with the RNLI following the completion of his PhD in 2009 and was appointed to the post of Lecturer in Sustainable Design shortly after. This work was subsequently shortlisted for the Times Higher Education awards in the category ‘Outstanding Contribution to Innovation and Technology’ in 2010. This resulted in the development of a novel, water-based lubrication solution and upgraded slipway panel fitting criteria for the RNLI that eliminated the need for grease to be used on the launch slipway. Following the award of MSc Sustainable Design (2004) Ben was offered the opportunity to study this problem in direct collaboration with the RNLI. It was found that they lifeboats were getting stuck on the launch slipways and that the workaround solution of manually applying grease to the slipway was resulting in potentially harmful substances bio-accumulating around the base of the slipway. ![]() Bournemouth University was approached by the RNLI around 2002 with a request to assist them with a number of launching issues with their new Tamar class lifeboats. Stuart White's funeral will be held tomorrow at St Bartholomew's Anglican Church in Alstonville at 11am.Since arriving at Bournemouth University in 2002 Ben has followed a lifelong passion for Sustainable Design through both research and teaching. Mr White is survived by his wife, Gerri, his four children and six grandchildren. With his passing, another part of Ballina's maritime past has slipped into history," she said. "Stuart was a marvellous joke-teller, a 'people person' and always a gentleman. "He always had great respect for the people he worked with," she said. ![]() Mrs White said her husband remained in the business until 2001, when he was forced to step away because of ill health. But Mr White wanted to keep the business going, so he moved the foundry section to Piper Dr in Ballina's Southern Cross Industrial Estate in 1992, opening Metalcast Australia. The last vessel built at the yard was the Francis Freeburn in 1987 and once work finished on the South Steyne, the yard closed in 1989. In the 1980s, major restoration work was carried out on the Krait, famous for its wartime exploits, and on the much-loved Manly ferry, South Steyne." "Among the many boats built at the yard, there were whale chasers, cargo boats for the Pacific Island area, fishing vessels, small tugs for the sugar industry and larger tug boats for the mining industry. "Wooden-hull vessels were constructed initially, but in the 1960s, steel construction began to take over. "With many vessels built there, the slipway took the name of the town to places such as the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Groote Eyelandt and Hamersley in Western Australia. He met his future wife, Gerri Cox, in Sydney in 1963.Ī file photo of the old slipway site at Ballina, which was run by Stuart White and his family until it closed in 1989. He worked in this role in the firm in Sydney and Ballina, taking over as managing director in 1982 when his father died. Stuart White went into the family business when he finished school, first completing an apprenticeship as a fitter and turner and then training in accountancy. The slipway was a major employer in the area, employing about 130 people at its peak in the 1970s and 1980s Over the years, Ballina Slipway grew to be a major manufacturing industry in the area, specialising in ship construction and repair. The business, trading as Ballina Slipway & Engineering Company, was part of a larger marine and engineering business, SG White Pty Ltd, which operated in Sydney from 1926 to 1975. His father Sidney George Berman White, affectionately known as "SG", bought the slipway site on the corner of Martin and River Sts in 1942. Mr White, who lived at Teven and then at Wollongbar during his later years, was born in Sydney on June 5, 1937. A CHAPTER of Ballina's history ended on Friday when Stuart White, the former managing director of the Ballina Slipway, died after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. ![]()
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