An student beat 5,000 graduates up and down the country to win an engineering design award for improving the humble kettle.

Harry Miller, a 22-year-old graduate from Middlesex University’s Hendon campus, won the best final year project award from the Institution of Engineering Designers. 

The bright spark was surprised by research suggesting three out of four households in Britain overfill their kettles, wasting 70 million litres of water every day and £68 million a year.

So he set about redesigning the kettle as a more-efficient appliance, with a pour-to-boil function powered by two lattice heat exchanges creating rapid temperature during pouring.  

“One of the least sustainable domestic appliances was due to overfilling and over-boiling,” Harry explained. “My heat exchanges hold water at a set temperature and allow it to flow through the kettle, increasing the temperature.”

The heat exchanges are chambers in a vacuum flask that minimise temperature drop to keep the water warm throughout the day and reduce wastage. 

Harry, now working for the Layer design consultancy in Bethnal Green, said he was drawn to Middlesex Uni by its “exceptional facilities and modern design studio”.