Nick Hounsfield

Nick Hounsfield was introduced to surfing by his father Brian - an osteopath and sailor - in the mid 1970s on regular visits to Cornwall, and has been an avid surfer ever since.[6][7] Hounsfield graduated as an osteopath in 1997 with a BSc (Hons) from the British School of Osteopathy and was founder and clinical director of The Family Practice, Bristol with his wife, Juliana Hounsfield.[8] In 2009, Hounsfield became a Council Member on the healthcare regulator the General Osteopathic Council.[9]

After his father died, Hounsfield began to think about open spaces connected to nature where activity and socialisation across generations would be encouraged and embraced.[6][1][10] He started talking with environmental activist, lobbyist and long-time surfer Chris Hines,[11] a founding member of the environmental action group Surfers Against Sewage and former sustainability director at the Eden Project.[12][13] Hounsfield and Hines researched how they could replicate the power of open ocean surfing to deliver a safe, sustainable inland surfing destination for people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. Hounsfield saw surfing as a tool to start having conversations about wellbeing[7] and was driven to make a social impact through a project improving the quality of health in communities in green and blue outdoor spaces that could both educate and rehabilitate.

Hounsfield founded The Wave[14] in 2012 with sustainability at the heart and the aim to bring year-round consistent surfing and its benefits to a safe inland environment for both beginners and experts, starting with Bristol.[7] Hounsfield partnered with business directors Craig Stoddart and Nick Asheshov, and campaigned to raise attention, funds, land and technology for the project. The Wave undertook research through a public information and accountability framework to explore the viability of both Wave Loch and Wavegarden technology, ultimately choosing to partner with Wavegarden. They raised £26 million through investment[15] and secured site planning in 2014 (and 2017 for further design revisions)[10] from South Gloucestershire Council to construct the facility on 70 acres of grassland in Washingpool Farm, Easter Compton, 1.4 miles from Cribbs Causeway and 7 miles from Bristol City Centre. This plot is part of the Avon Forest conservation area[16] and close to the Severn Estuary.

The Wave Bristol opened in October 2019[17] receiving awards from the British Construction Industry and Green Business Leaders for construction, sustainability and leisure.[18][19][20][21] The kite-shaped surfing lake is 180 metres long, 200 metres wide and approximately 1.5 metres deep[10] with varied bathymetry to dictate wave breaking points and wave morphology. The surfing lake contains 26 million litres of water[22] and is divided into two parts for left breaking and right breaking waves, separated by a pontoon which houses the wave-making system. This is a machine-based modular technology patented as Wavegarden Cove[23] and designed to replicate water particle movement of ocean groundswells to generate waves.

The technology used at The Wave Bristol is different to Surf Snowdonia opened in Wales in 2015[24] where waves are generated by an underwater foil and drive system, also designed by Wavegarden and patented as Wavegarden Lagoon.[25] The Wave London is currently in development in Lee Valley Regional Park and planned for 2023.[22]

Hounsfield is a Director of English and British Surfing and has worked with the British and English Surf Teams for the annual ISA World Surfing Games[26] and annual ISA World Para Surfing Championships.[27] He is director for Surfing England and Chair of the Board of Directors.[28][29] In 2019, Hounsfield joined the UK Sport International Leadership Programme to represent British Surfing. Hounsfield has overseen surfing's first funding from UK Sport to invest in the Olympic and Paralympic Games.[5][4]

Hounsfield has been an activist for the emerging field of ‘blue health’, exploring how the body and the mind responds to being in or near water.[7] Marine social scientist Easkey Britton collated the research of 33 studies featuring more than 2,000 people to evidence support of water-based healthcare and blue health.[2][30] Britton, Hounsfield and Wallace Nichols (author of Blue Mind)[31][32] have been among a number of academics and surfers describing the positive sensation of water for the body and mind.[33][34][35]

In 2020, Hounsfield spearheaded a partnership between The Wave and The Wave Project to begin a surf-therapy pilot for children aged eight to 18 in the greater Bristol area who suffer from poor mental health.[30] The Wave Project[36] founder Joe Taylor explained how the sessions are designed to build confidence, self-esteem and resilience. The program was first made available on NHS prescription in May 2019 for children in Devon and Cornwall after a pilot project that began in 2010. In 2018 an independent report revealed that the courses “consistently improved the wellbeing of young people” and “had a lasting, positive impact.”[30]

In February 2020, Hounsfield suffered multiple strokes that affected his speech.[37][38][39] This, however, by his own admission built his resilience.[37]

Hounsfield was voted one of the UK's “Most Disruptive Entrepreneurs”[40] by The Daily Telegraph in 2014 across fields of technology, finance, retail, sport and manufacturing. In 2015 Hounsfield featured in Business West as one of “9 young entrepreneurs nailing the start-up scene in the South West”.[41] In 2018, Hounsfield was listed in the Business Leaders Top 50 Southwest Entrepreneurs, featuring leaders who have had a positive economic impact in the South West UK.[42] Business Leader described Hounsfield's “relentless vision to create an inland surfing destination” that “has seen the business attract millions of pounds in investment.”[42]

In 2020, The Wave Bristol was awarded the Civils Project of the Year for Excellence In Construction in the South West UK.[18] The Wave Bristol was also awarded the Cultural & Leisure Project of the Year at the British Construction Industry Awards[19] and the Michelmores Property Awards.[20] Further in 2020, The Wave Bristol was awarded Green Building Project of the Year at the Business Green Leaders Awards.[21] The richest award, or reward of all, however, is the pleasure of the experience that many, many participants have taken away from their trips to The Wave Bristol.[43]