Neptun Ozis Studio is delighted to be a part of the extraordinary upcycling project MV St Helena to become the logistics hub for the new Extreme E global off-road racing series.
The extensive 18-month multi-million pounds Extreme E – St. Helena interior refit project includes refurbishing the interior, creating the new livery and branding for former Royal Mail Ship St.Helena.
The project aims to give a new life to the last Royal Mail Ship St.Helena that had finished her duty working between Cape Town and the island of St.Helena for 25 years and carrying people and cargo before an airport was built in 2016.
The ship has been converted to special-purpose ship that hosts and accommodates guests and participants of the electric motor racing series Extreme E and carries racing cars and equipment to the remotest places on earth where the races will take place.
With the soul of the racing series and Neptun Ozis’ environmental friendly design understanding, the interior design approach for the refit was, causing as little environmental footprint as possible, by using the fundamental layout of the interior and furniture as much as possible, and giving a brand new, contemporary look to the vessel without losing the luxurious feeling.
Almost all the materials used on the refit are environmentally respectfully sourced and used to comply with the minimum C02 emission.
The interiors’ boundaries are left as existing to avoid any new use of materials, covered and decorated with new materials to upcycle the interior use with a new, contemporary look.
All lighting fixtures have been changed with low energy sufficient lighting fixtures, decrease energy consumption, bathroom fittings have been changed with low water consuming bathroom fittings to decrease the need for water, which both effects lowering the consumption of energy and fuel.
Recycled plastic material has been used on exterior deck furniture, and any other plastic or materials made from fossil fuel, have been avoided to be used at the interior.
To avoid unnecessary use of scarce teak resources worldwide, the ship’s exterior decking has been replaced with a teak wood looking resin decking system requiring minimum maintenance.
The whole project has been aimed to be a role model to show a luxurious hospitality project may be done without harming the environment. It can be achieved by only upcycling items and spaces that came to the end of their lives, just like Extreme E being a role model for the new motor racing series and sports events.
The new livery has the characteristics of the XE racings series, as well as an expedition vessel, designed to an iconic mark to stand out where ever she travels.
With the 62 guest cabins, two lounges, one restaurant, 100 people seating exterior deck area and enormous cargo spaces, St Helena is ready for her new duty.
The Extreme E series will take place starting from March 2021, will see teams of all-electric vehicles race in the most remote parts of the world.
The remote locations have been chosen as they have each already been damaged or affected by climate change and environmental damage issues, raising awareness of climate change and the need to help protect the planet. (You can check out the Extreme E website for more information www.extreme-e.com )
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton, 9-time world rally championship winner Sebastien Loeb and Dakar rally legend Carlos Sainz are some of the participants of the inaugural series, with the ‘environmental focus’ appealing to them.
The ship will start operating in March 2021.
The Extreme E championship chose to purchase the ship in 2018 and convert her to a floating paddock as moving its freight via the sea will reduce emissions compared to air freight. Although an old ship might not be looking low carbon emission as a new technology built ship, building a ship this size would expose the amount of carbon emission which would be caused in decades of operating that ship.