The Development of HESCO
Protecting the Protectors
Since 1991, we have strived to develop and engineer products that protect people, homes, structures and transport links; enabling life to continue in the wake of conflict and natural disaster.
This desire to protect has been at the heart of our business since our founder; Jimi Heselden created a barrier to protect his home from the fierce storms that were threatening to destroy his cliff-top house. As a result of the damage ravaging his property, Jimi created a wire-mesh gabion system that served as a protective wall for his family home; this wall went on to be developed into the HESCO Concertainer Unit, a barrier that has been hailed as the most significant development in field fortification since World War Two.
The potential of the initial HESCO barriers that utilized the concertainer principle was quickly recognized by the Ministry of Defence, leading them to be deployed in the first Gulf War, where they were used to protect soldiers, vulnerable supplies, ammunition, and fuel.
Subsequently, our barriers were also used in 1996, following the Khobar Towers bombing. These instances quickly saw Hesco recognized as providing products that were going to protect the US Military’s property and personnel. Our barrier has been used in the war against terror both in Afghanistan and Iraq, due to their speed of deployment, flexible design and protective qualities.
Once the protective capabilities of our products had been tried, tested and proven when used in hostile situations, we turned our attention to driving forward our barriers that protect against natural disaster. 2004 saw the HESCO flood wall unveiled; this product still used the same concertainer design that was synonymous with force protection but had now been exposed extreme tests against rising floodwaters, in which it has proven to be a viable flood barrier solution.
Because of the way that natural disasters can become harrowing extremely quickly, we knew our barriers had to be filled quickly with minimal labor. While a traditional flood wall made of 1,500 sandbags can take 10 people, seven hours to fill and build, our innovative earth-filled flood barriers can be deployed in 20 minutes with two people and a front-end loader.
At this time, Hurricane season was approaching and in New Orleans, a city in the southern state of Louisiana, the current protection was no longer meeting the requirements for Storm Protection set by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and Hesco was chosen because of the flood barriers reliability, along with the temporary nature.
Our barriers were also used in the 2005 hurricane Katrina, where they protected the Jefferson Parish against the devastation that the Category 3 winds and waves were threatening. This display of ability has seen our flood barriers used each year across the United States to provide protection against storms, floods, and hurricanes to protect people, homes and critical infrastructure.
In 2012, the product development team at HESCO had formed a range of civilian security barriers, with a view to providing protection in urban environments against the new wave of terror threats; the new range was named TERRABLOCK.
The new civilian barriers are designed to enable governments, corporations, private businesses, and event’s organizers to protect lives and assets from varying intimidations. The new products were used in the 2012 London Olympics, protecting civilians in areas such as Wembley, North Greenwich Arena, and ExCel.
As the new wave of terror threats are seeing vehicles being used to cause maximum damage and harm, the TERRABLOCK range utilises the same earth-filled approach as we take with many of our products, and uses it alongside, anti-climb barriers and a patented energy displacement system to minimize the threat posed by intruders and the hostile use of vehicles.
Along with developing defensive products, HESCO has also entered the body armor market. Our range of ballistic-resistant body armor is engineered to protect those within the military, law enforcement and US departments of defense, and are known for the outstanding protection they provide whilst being lightweight.
HESCO has long-vowed to protect the protectors, and we will continue to use our extensive security knowledge, and the first-hand experience to design and develop products that will defend, shelter and provide peace of mind to those fighting terror, along with those people who are going about their everyday lives.
