A 21-year-old lifeguard from the Bridgend and Vale of Glamorgan team helped design the RNLI’s new generation of beach huts, and this summer she has been working out of one at Trecco Bay.
Beth Morgan has been an RNLI beach lifeguard since 2022, when she was 17. She is also a second-year architectural engineering student at Loughborough University, and that combination got her a seat on the charity’s in-house design team.
The new beach lifeguard units, which the RNLI calls BLUs, have gone out across the UK and Channel Islands for the 2026 season, the charity’s 25th year of lifeguarding.
Beth was invited to the RNLI College in Poole to work on them. “We started off with a discussion amongst the team before building a 1:1 early-stage prototype, allowing us to physically experience and test the design,” she said.
“With four seasons of lifeguarding under my belt, I knew I had a good perspective that would help design an improved space for lifeguards. I ensured that the new units were suitable for our responsibilities on duty and a comfortable working environment.”
The RNLI says the new huts are sturdier, with a better internal layout, private changing space, solar panels to power them, hot water without gas bottles, and running water to the sinks in place of the old hand pumps.
One has been installed at Trecco Bay in Porthcawl, where Beth’s team is based.
“It is really exciting to see the units in action and hear of any further improvements from other lifeguards,” she said. “It’s special to see something I helped create come to life.”
She said the heatwaves this summer had been the ideal test. “The windows have provided some much needed ventilation, along with the anti-glare, tinted front window. It’s a common opinion amongst the lifeguards that the new units are a lot cooler and pleasant to work in.”
Beth grew up in a surf lifesaving community and says the lifeguards on her local beaches were the reason she joined. “Through dealing with rescues and high stress situations, it has shown me that what we do is crucial in keeping people safe on the beach and in the water.”
“I feel very lucky to have grown up by the sea and have the skills to be able to protect myself and rescue others,” she added.
She starts a placement with a structural engineering firm this month, and says she wants to work on sustainable homes and infrastructure for communities in developing countries.
Joanna Price, the RNLI’s regional lifeguard lead, worked on the project with her. “Insights from our lifeguards on the ground are so valuable when we’re looking at improving their facilities,” she said. “They bring a wealth of first-hand knowledge from working on the beaches, but also from their backgrounds outside of lifeguarding, like Beth’s studies.”
The charity says its lifeguards have saved more than 2,000 lives since the service began in 2001, and that this summer’s heat has made it one of the busiest.
The next batch of units is already being designed for next season, Beth says, with feedback from lifeguards using this year’s huts.
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