Designed with and for refugees
Modular post emergency and transitional shelters adaptable to your needs and safe for the people you serve.
Modular post emergency and transitional shelters adaptable to your needs and safe for the people you serve.
The Better Shelter is a cost effective and durable shelter solution designed to meet the needs for the activities of basic living, for privacy, security and familiarity – a safe base that offers a sense of peace, identity and dignity.
The shelter’s modular design allows for altering and adaptation to different areas of use, making it a versatile and scalable shelter option for humanitarian organisations operating in different contexts worldwide where implementation of local solutions is not possible. Photo: ©UNHCR/Ali Arkady
Congolese refugee Apolina Nyassa, 86, lives alone in a Better Shelter given to refugees with special needs, at Nyarugusu camp in Tanzania. Apolina likes her new house because it keeps out rain and rats. She uses her old mud-brick house for cooking in.
Nyarugusu Settlement in Eastern Tanzania hosts over 150,000 refugees, out of which 65,000 are from Burundi and the remaining from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Photo: ©UNHCR/Georgina Goodwin
Internally displaced Iraqi Shaima Jassim makes a dress on a sewing machine inside the shelter where she and her three children live. Shaima fled Fallujah in 2014 and came to Al-Khadra camp, Baghdad. Since her husband passed, she supports her family by making and selling dresses to women and girls in the camp. Photo: ©UNHCR/Ali Arkady
Mohamed, 25, Hajira Khatun, 22, Abu Bukkar Siddiq, 5, Mohammed Siddiq, 3, and Sadeka, 3 months, take shelter in a Better Shelter in the UNHCR Transit Centre in Kutupalong camp, Bangladesh.
The family belongs to the Rohingya tribe and were forced to flee Myanmar. Photo: ©UNHCR/Roger Arnold
Jean Carlos, 39 and Sonia Ramos, 31, were living in the bus terminal in Boa Vista, Roraima with their children and nephew before being taken to Rondon I.
Rondon I was the tenth temporary camp to be established by UNHCR in Roraima, Brazil, which borders the south-east Venezuelan states of Amazonas and Bolivar. Opened in mid-July 2018, Rondon I is hosting Venezuelans who were living on the streets of Boa Vista. Photo: ©️UNHCR/Reynesson Damasceno
“I had 220 students that I had to teach in four classrooms, it was crowded, and learning quality was dropping as a consequence”, said Mr. Rafid Majeed, Headmaster of the Al-Ayoubi School. “Today, the school has eight classrooms with 27 students per class, which allows us as teachers to deliver better education quality and enroll more students for the upcoming semester”.
During this protracted conflict in Iraq, hundreds of thousands of children have been exposed to displacement, violence and a lack of schooling – the latter due to their IDP status, distance to school facilities, destruction of infrastructure, or lack of id papers to prove the child’s identity and level of education. Photo: © Terre des hommes
Governments and organisations the world over are preparing for and responding to the spread of the coronavirus. And quick efforts are required. In crisis operations every second counts.
The spread of epidemics and pandemics put pressure on national and global health care systems. Rapid response to these requires solutions for unforeseen needs and care for large number of patients. Additional infrastructure required may include screening centres of suspected carriers, mobile quarantine facilities for infected patients, storage and office space as well as information centres.
Better Shelter provides safe, temporary structures for outdoor use that serve as health care facilities all over the world. Ongoing projects include an OB/GYN clinic in Mexico, an Ebola monitoring and treatment facility in Burundi and different health facilities for response to the covid-19 crisis.
The modular design of the Better Shelter enables alterations in size and layout: sections can be added and removed to create different sized facilities. Vertical walls and a high ceiling allow space for medical equipment, beds, consultation rooms and office space.
For order inquiries, contact our Partnerships Manager Lucia Arias Kapetinic at lucia.arias.kapetinic@bettershelter.org
To learn more about how you can adapt the Better Shelter to you requirements, get in touch with our team today: product@bettershelter.org
We offer support before, during and after project implementation
Planning
Implementation
Follow up and support
To learn more about how Better Shelter can support in your project, get in touch with our team today: product@bettershelter.org
Partner UNHCR
Location Maicao and Cúcuta, Colombia
Number of units 55
Application COVID-19 health facility
Partner UNHCR
Location Boa Vista, Brazil
Number of units 200
Application COVID-19 health facility
Partner UNHCR
Location Niamey, Niger
Number of units 50
Application COVID-19 health facility
Partner UNHCR
Location Azraq camp, Jordan
Number of units 15
Application COVID-19 health facility
Partner UNHCR
Location Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, Pakistan
Number of units 14
Application COVID-19 health facility
Partner Maram Foundation and The Polish Center for International Aid (PCPM)
Location Idlib
Number of units 52
Application COVID-19 health facility
The frame is the unit’s load bearing structure. It is made of galvanised, high-strength yet lightweight steel and is modular, self-supported and intended to be used with the unit’s panels. Foundations, frame and columns are fastened together with connectors, enabling a rapidly-assembled yet robust construction reinforced by metal wire bracings.
- Modular and robust with interchangeable parts.
- Can easily be dismantled and remounted again.
- Can withstand strong wind, rain, snow and heavy impact.
The shelter is secured with ten ground anchors, which keep the shelter firm and secure on the ground.
The shelter’s frame foundation connects to the ground at ten points. These connections to the ground consist of; a ground pipe to prevent horizontal movement of the shelter, a ground plate to prevent the shelter from sinking into the soil and a ground anchor to prevent the shelter from uplift. The ground anchor, being hammer into the soil, uses a cone of soil on top of it as counterweight and is fixed to the structure with a metal wire. These components enable the entire structure to withstand wind and load.
- Keeps structure securely and steady anchored to the ground
- Can be used in different types of soil
The walls and roof comprise four types of panels: roof panels, wall panels, top gable panels (left and right) and lower gable panels. The overlapping panels are attached to the frame with plastic brackets, bolts and nuts, and at the gables with gable profiles. The panels are made of a five mm thick polyolefin sheet.
- Panels are lightweight, yet tough and durable.
- Easily attached with nuts and bolts.
- A panel can easily be replaced in case it is damaged.
The door is lockable from the inside and the outside and can be secured with a standard padlock.
The shelter’s openings enable easy entry/exit and create a safe, healthy and comfortable indoor environment. The door system comprises a doorframe, door canopy, door leaf and hinges to connect the door leaf to the doorframe. It is delivered pre-assembled and can be mounted onto the frame on any of the four walls (except at the corners) with the same fastening methods as the panels. The door can be closed with a sliding bar, accessible on both sides of the door.
- Size: 0.7 m × 1.65 m
- Can be placed on either of the shelter’s four walls
- Lockable from the inside and the outside
The shelter's four windows are positioned at the top of the wall panels in pre-cut openings. These comprise an outer frame, a hatch that can be tilted and opened, and a mosquito net. To achieve the best airflow, the windows should be placed opposite each other.
The shelter's four ventilations are positioned on the top gable panels in pre-cut openings. The ventilation comprises an outer frame, a slide-open hatch and a mosquito net. To achieve the best ventilation flow, the ventilations should be kept open.
- 4 windows and 4 ventilation openings
- Window hatches can be opened for light and closed for privacy.
- All openings are equipped with mosquito nets
The shelter includes a portable LED lamp, a solar panel, adapters for charging of low voltage devices (e.g. mobile phones) and fixation to assemble the solar panel to the shelter.
- Provides light for six hours when fully charged
- Light output between 20-170 lm
- USB ports enables charging of electronic device
Wind 28m/s or 101km/h wind resistance
Rain resistant: passes artificial rain test with no leakage.
Fire and flammability protection: fire retardant materials allow for minimum 2-minute escape time.
Temperature 5-40°C temperature range
Roof and wall: polyolefin foam panels treated with UV protection
Frame and foundation: lightweight galvanized steel
Door and door frame: UV stabilised polymer plastic
Window and ventilation frames and hatches: UV and heat resistant polymer plastic
Smaller components: polymer plastic
Floor sheet: woven high-density polyethylene fibres
Assembly tools: Steel
The Better Shelter does not contain any REACH SVHC substances and is RoHS compliant.
All materials used in the unit should be disposed in accordance with local legislation and as stipulated by the responsible authority.
Covered living area: 17.5 m²
Max. indoor height: 2.7 m
Min. indoor height [eave level]: 1.8 m
(Effective open window area: 0.062 m²)
(Effective ventilation area: 0.064 m²)
1 packed unit = 1.14 m3 (2.02 m x 1.09 m x 0.52 m)
One shelter is delivered in two boxes, which together weigh 155 kg.
Box A: 2020 x 1090 x 230 mm (84 kg)
Box B: 2000 x 1090 x 290 mm (71 kg)
48 units fit into a container 40 feet HC.
36 units fit into a container 40 feet DC.
Assembling a 17.5 m2 Better Shelter requires a team of four and takes 5 to 6 hours depending on experience, conditions and location.
The shelter is delivered in two cardboard boxes which have been packed to reflect the order in which components will be used in construction. The two boxes can be lifted by four people and contain all necessary tools and instruction manuals. The shelter is constructed in three stages: