Countdown ticking for the UK’s first Space Hub

Construction on a low-cost vertical spaceport in the north of Scotland may commence within a year, pending the approval of a planning application by a local authority.

The spaceport, to be called the Space Hub Sutherland, would be built at A’Mhoine on the Moine Peninsula in the county of Sutherland, a few miles from Scotland’s Atlantic coast. This facility would enable vertical rockets to launch small satellites into low Earth polar and sun-synchronous orbits.

In early August, the Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), a local Scottish government economic and community development agency, signed a 75-year option to lease the land where the spaceport would be built.

 

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The development, which would cost $20.7 million, received $3 million of funding from the U.K. Space Agency in July of 2018.

“We hope to get planning consent in early 2020 and start construction soon after that,” Roy Kirk, Space Hub Sutherland project director at HIE, told Space.com. “If all goes well, we will see launches from Sutherland by the early 2020s.”

Earlier this year, HIE awarded a contract to architecture firm NORR Consultants to design facilities at the spaceport, including a launch-control center and the assembly and integration building.

“We believe that the vertical launch opportunity that we are developing will deliver a really cost-effective and low-cost access to space,” said Kirk. “Each launch will have a very tight price point, and we hope to achieve very short lead times for these launches.”

Orbex

Lockheed Martin and the British aerospace company Orbex previously committed to launching from the Sutherland spaceport, hoping to carry out up to 10 launches per year.

Earlier this year, Orbex unveiled the second stage of the company’s innovative Prime rocket, which uses a biopropane fuel and emits 90% less carbon dioxide than conventional, hydrocarbon-fueled rockets. Biopropane is an alternative to natural gas that’s produced from waste or sustainably sourced materials like algae.

The company’s CEO, Chris Larmour, welcomed the recent lease option as an important step toward taking Britain “back to space,” he said in a press statement in an email.

Orbex aims to operate the A’Mhoine site in a “‘green’ manner and will be using a site-compatible small launch vehicle with an ultra-low-carbon biopropane fuel,” Larmour added. The environmental impact of the operations is currently being scrutinized, as the proposed site lies inside a recognized area of natural and scientific interest.

UK rockets

Previously, the United Kingdom developed a functioning rocket, the Black Arrow, which launched from Australia and flew only four times before being abandoned in 1971 due to the high cost of the program.

It is not clear yet what vehicle Lockheed Martin is looking to launch from the Scottish spaceport, but the company received $31 million from the U.K. Space Agency last year to develop and operate a vertical launch system from the Sutherland Space Hub. Orbex received $7 million toward its efforts.

Orbex announced a series of launch contracts for the company’s Prime rocket, including recent agreements with the Netherlands-based cubesat launch broker Innovative Space Logistics and the U.K.-based company In-Space Missions, which plans to launch its Faraday-2b demonstration satellite from Scotland in 2022.

The Space Hub Sutherland, however, is not the only anticipated spaceport in the U.K. In May, the U.K. Space Agency announced 2 million pounds sterling ($2.44 million) of funding for the development of horizontal spaceports, from which aircraft carrying small rockets, such as the Virgin Galactic LauncherOne, could take off like regular aircraft.

There are currently four sites in the U.K. — including Newquay in Cornwall, Campbeltown and Glasgow Prestwick in Scotland, and Snowdonia in Wales — looking to develop horizontal spaceports. The U.K. government hopes that these sites will not only enable small satellite launches, but also allow space tourists to take off from British soil in the future.

 

RELATED

Cick the image to view the video of the Virgin Galatic Space Launch centre in New Mexico, designed by the UK Architects Foster and Partners

 

Source Space.com

 

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BRUTALIST ARCHITECTURE WINS THE 2020 RIBA GOLD MEDAL

Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, Ireland by Grafton Architects, winners of the 2020 RIBA gold medal. Photograph: ©Ros Kavanagh

The Dublin cooperative, known for brutalist buildings that create generous open spaces, is only the second women-led practice to win the prize.

 

Grafton Architects, the Dublin practice led by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, has been named as the recipient of the 2020 RIBA gold medal, the UK’s highest honour for architecture. It marks just the second time in the award’s 172-year history that the prize has been given to a women-led firm, following Zaha Hadid’s win in 2016.

It says a lot about the duo that their practice is named not after themselves, but the street in which they set up their office. For Grafton, place is more important than personality, and making good buildings a higher priority than theory, rhetoric or appearing in magazines.

 

Architecture biennale 2018: all hail the new queens of Venice

If Farrell and McNamara don’t fit the usual celebrity architect mould, their buildings also feel of another era. They are interested in weight, mass, and the play of light on hefty volumes of concrete and stone. They sculpt spaces from great mineral slabs and soaring buttresses, carving out volumes in a manner reminiscent of heroic brutalist buildings of the postwar era. Their structures sometimes have an archaic, primitive quality, providing robust armatures for any number of different uses that might occur within their walls over the coming centuries that they look designed to endure. In a world of lightweight frames and clip-on cladding systems, this is solid architecture that is built to last.

 

Grafton’s medal win follows the award of the inaugural RIBA international prize in 2016 for the “best new building in the world”, which went to their jaw-dropping building for the Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología (UTEC) in Lima, Peru. Standing above a motorway like a chunk of a stadium, the muscular concrete structure provides laboratories and classrooms in a vertiginous stack of terraces, connected by open walkways and meandering social spaces, feeling like a true extension of the city, cleft from the hillside.

 

“We like to create spaces you couldn’t design consciously, things that just happen somehow,” McNamara told me at the time. “Rather than thinking of a space and then finding a structure for it, we make a structure and that, in turn, makes a space.” They say they are interested in “the spaces in between, which haven’t been asked for in the brief” and describe their architecture as a kind of “scaffolding”, a non-prescriptive framework on which lives and events can be played out.

 

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Selected to curate the Venice Biennale in 2018, they set the theme as “Freespace”, which they described as “a generosity of spirit and a sense of humanity at the core of architecture’s agenda”. They spoke of the “free and additional spatial gifts” that architecture can offer – a core idea of their own buildings, which often feature generous, open, free-form spaces to be occupied as people see fit. Steps, benches, terraces and broad landings loom large. Current projects in the works for universities, including the London School of Economics, Kingston University and Toulouse, are all conceived as open, inviting forums.

 

Source: The Guardian

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MAKING CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS SMARTER WITH A DIGITAL TWIN

Digital twins and AI help to bridge the construction productivity gap  

Bam Nuttall, Cranfield University and Iotic create The Learning Camera

 

In a drive to increase on-site productivity and operational performance in the construction industry, BAM Nuttall has teamed up with tech-firm Iotic and researchers at Cranfield University to develop an AI-based, computer-vision system using new digital twin technology.

The Learning Camera project employs a standard webcam, integrated with an IoT framework of smart sensors to collect real-time environmental data such as wind speed and weather conditions, combined with contextual information including location, date and time. All this data is fed into a cloud-based system to create digital twins, which bridge the physical and virtual world.

An Iotic digital twin is an autonomous and interoperable version of a ‘thing’ or an asset with all its data and controls that can interact, interrelate and behave in a digital environment as its twinned counterpart in the real world. Pairing these two worlds with the Learning Camera enables the monitoring and analysis of on-site data to identify and head off problems before they cause potential delays, accidents and increased costs, while also helping with future planning by being able to run accurate simulations with real data.

In particular, cameras can be programmed to recognise abnormal activity on a construction site 24 hours a day and generate alerts so that someone can attend to rectify any problems. This reduces the need for repetitive on-site checks and security monitoring in hazardous areas and all-weather conditions.

Sophie Peachey, Head of Customer Success at Iotic, said: “The application of Digital Twin technology within the Learning Camera allows us to broker access to a potentially increasing number of data sources and controls to perfect the accuracy of the algorithms used in the solution. These algorithms must be able to interpret differences correctly and instigate appropriate actions to make the Learning Camera a solution that people trust. You can see how this could apply to different situations in which people have to balance the importance of knowing that something is there, has changed, or is working, against the cost of their time in checking. While this is not restricted to construction, we are very excited by the impact this could have on productivity and in providing construction staff with a safe working environment.”

Dr Yifan Zhao, lecturer in Image and Signal Processing and Degradation Assessment at the Through Life Engineering Service Institute at Cranfield University, said he believed the innovation was a great opportunity for AI to be applied to a traditional industry. “By using The Learning Camera, construction sites will be better equipped to manage and deliver projects. Its use will also promote the need for the industry to attract talent with skills in software and hardware development in order to tackle the much-publicised poor productivity levels.”

And Colin Evison, head of innovation at BAM Nuttall, concluded: “Overall, lessons are learned and opportunities are uncovered within the virtual environment that can be applied to the physical world and used to transform a business. This is a real opportunity to explore how we can make construction projects smarter by the adoption and development of technology solutions which have not been traditionally available before.”

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18% OF UK ENERGY FROM OFFSHORE WINDFARMS

GREEN energy has come a long way since John Blyth installed the world’s first electricity-generating wind turbine to charge a battery at his holiday home in Scotland.

That was July 1887, and it was not until 1951 that the first utility grid-connected wind turbine to operate in the UK would be built in the Orkney Islands.

Two decades later and industrial scale wind generation was proposed, but progress has not been fast.

It was another 20 years before the first commercial windfarm opened in Cornwall.

Over the last 25 years public opinion has been mixed, especially for onshore wind farms, where residents at planning committees for contentious developments have claimed they will be a “blot on the landscape”, as well as citing concerns over efficiency, the effect they have on animals, the noise they emit and potential health risks.

Most fears appear to have been quelled, but to avoid “nimbyism”, they now tend to be built out at sea, and last year, wind power contributed to 18 per cent of the UK’s electricity generation.

Russell Edmonson, managing director of Tekmar Energy, which is based in Newton Aycliffe, says: “A lot of people don’t realise just how much electricity is produced.

“It is quite staggering how many wind farms there are, even in the UK, and the UK is the market leader for it.

“People do not realise it because they are over 20 miles away offshore.”

Tekmar Energy recently signed a contract with the world’s largest offshore wind developer Ørsted, to provide its patented cable protection systems for the Hornsea Two offshore wind farm.

The 30 metre-long systems, made from polyurethane and cast iron, connect to the seabed, and the cable to land, and the bottom of the wind turbine base, to prevent the thick wiring being damaged by the saltwater of the sea, tidal movement and storms.

The new wind farm will be made up of 165 turbines with a combined total capacity of 1.4 GW, providing clean electricity to well more than 1.3 million homes.

The sister project to Hornsea One, which has 170 smaller turbines, is set for completion in 2022 and Tekmar, which employs 115 people, will be providing 346 cable protection systems.

 

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Russell says: “Around 60 per cent of our revenue is in offshore renewables or wind farms.

“It is the only way to mass produce renewable technology. As an industry, it is growing at around 20 per cent per annum.

“What is very interesting is a lot of big developers are now competing at a zero subsidy level.

“They are undertaking projects with no subsidy from the Government and that means, as an industry, it is slowly transitioning from a Government decision to a commercial decision.

“It is opening up the rest of the world. Europe has led the way in offshore wind power and the technology has been developed and proven. Now the Americans are slowly starting to get on board and we are doing lot more work in Asia. It is very much a growing industry and there is huge potential.”

Tekmar was started by two Norwegian oil and gas industry divers in 1985 as an engineering and projects business, but over the last three decades has transitioned into making products on site and moved into renewables in 2008.

Wind turbines are made in mainland Europe by suppliers such as Siemens before blades are shipped and completed in Hull, but Russell says several companies in the North-East make up the rest of the supply chain.

He says the growing awareness of the need for green energy production means there is now plenty of scope for further opportunities for employment in the sector.

“The North-East is a hub for offshore companies,” he says. “You ultimately have pretty much everything you need, except the turbines, in the North-East to build a wind farm, which is pretty unheard of.

“You have everything from companies who are product suppliers to cable manufacturers to installers.

“There is an entire supply chain in the North-East. It is an industry that is growing so there is huge scope for job creation.

“It is very much a projects industry. We are very much driven by when these projects are green-lighted and how quickly they can go into production.

“The good thing about the renewables market is there is a lot of foresight in the pipeline so you can see what is coming from 12 to 24 months out.”

Source: The Northern Echo

 

 

 

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Offsite design – future proofing against flood damage

With flood risk being the primary danger to waterfront homes across the UK, Baca Architects has won the go-ahead for two new houses on Christchurch waterfront in a decision that not only reflects the firm’s exemplary approach to flood resilient design but also overcomes an inherent flaw in national planning policy on building within floodplains.

The houses feature the latest in sustainable architecture. Designed to be manufactured off-site, these highly insulated homes will have low carbon footprints and can be assembled quickly. The interiors will be bathed in sunlight and generous balconies will provide shade to full-height glazed windows that afford panoramic views out over the estuary. Importantly, all bedrooms are located above ground level while the living room, kitchen and dining room are approximately 2.5 feet above the external ground level and outside the flood plain. All electrical services will be brought in from the first floor and all electrical sockets will be raised. Windows and doors will allow water control and safe egress at multiple locations around the building. In the event of a flood, and should water enter the ground floor, the internal construction is designed to be resilient to water and to enable effective cleaning and fast recovery.

The successful scheme – the first of its kind under the recent changes to National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) – challenged the effective prohibition on homeowners, developers and local authorities to re-build innovatively and safely on sites where pre-existing housing stock had already suffered, or was likely to suffer, flooding. The site in Christchurch is currently designated an area of low flooding risk but is calculated to progress to one of high risk over the next 100 years and the client wished to replace two dilapidated bungalows with two flood resilient homes. Whilst the proposal offered significant betterment in terms of safety on-site, improved on-site drainage and no net increase of development in the flood plain, the project ran into a major obstacle due to changes to the NPPF in 2018. These aimed to put an end to new waterfront housing developments but in so doing also posed a direct problem for owners of existing waterfront or flood plain homes seeking to protect their properties.

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Richard Coutts, Principal of Baca Architects, explains:

“This is a huge issue for waterfront and floodplain homeowners.  If they wish to upgrade pre-emptively or rebuild in the wake of a destructive flood event, they may well be stalled by the policy phrasing and ultimately rendered homeless. In the context of increasing flood plains and worsening flood events, building innovatively and safely needs to be embraced, marrying the best in architectural design with a focus on flood resilience and the protection of the environment. Flood resilience does not have to compromise design aesthetic or budget so long as it’s designed in from conception.  The planning success of the Christchurch application sets the precedent of safeguarding such schemes where they are on sites of flood risk and where development already exists”.

Baca’s scheme was granted planning consent earlier this month and is expected to be on-site in summer 2020.

 

www.baca.uk.com

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From Plastic Pollution to Plastic Roads

PAGE DOWN FOR THE VIDEO’s

Imagine a road with no asphalt, no concrete, just post-consumer plastic waste. This is possible in the Netherlands!

Smart City developments are rapidly advancing the way we live, work, and commute in our daily life. Smart City infrastructure is currently seeing a high-level of innovation toward a more sustainable future in the Netherlands. Using post-consumer plastic waste PlasticRoad builds sustainable roads of plastic reducing plastic pollution along the way. 

From plastic pollution to recycled plastic smart roads 

Consumer plastic waste represents a serious problem that is damaging the environment and many species on the planet. Globally, more than 40 species of fish are known to consume plastic. Eventually, that plastic reaches human plates.

Packaging alone generates 141 million tonnes annually of single-use plastic waste, being responsible for almost half of global plastic waste. This is the sector which also uses the most plastic: 146 million tonnes per year, representing 42 percent of the global total.

The innovative and unique concept of building roads made of plastic contributes to solving the overwhelming problem of plastic pollution. The idea of plastic roads was conceived by looking at the problems that municipalities, provinces, regional water authorities and contractors deal with on a daily basis including societal problems such as plastic waste, extreme precipitation, consolidation of the subsoil, an increasing need for mobility, and a crowded subsurface as well as the increasingly stringent requirements for future roads.

The increasing demand for more functionality from roads began to raise the question of whether the traditional asphalt is still the answer to these increasingly stringent requirements.

If roads in smart cities should have an increasingly longer lifespan, shorter construction and maintenance time, be more sustainable, achieve ever-higher noise reductions, and also be financially competitive then roads made of plastic is what ticks all the boxes and what inspired the idea of the PlasticRoad initiative.

Zwolle: Historical, trendy, and home of the world’s first plastic road

Zwolle is a city west from Amsterdam, reachable by train in just one hour. Zwolle is both historical and trendy. The city hosts one of the biggest markets in The Netherlands with 450 stalls. Art works from Dutch painters Vincent van Gogh and Piet Mondriaan delight art lovers who visit the Museum of Fundatie.

It is here, in Zwolle, where the world’s first plastic road prototype was built using recycled single-use plastic.

The first internal trial was ready in 2016. For over a year, cars and small trucks drove over the small plastic road every day without presenting any difficulties. Finally, in 2018, Zwolle became the first official city in the world to have a truly plastic road. 

The Netherlands is well known for its heavy use of bicycles that populate the Dutch cities contributing to the promotion of clean and fresh air, daily exercise, and less general pollution.

On September 11, 2018, a 30-meter bike path opened to the public in Zwolle. The road includes sensors which collect data proving information for further development, space for services to run underneath, and its own stormwater management system.

Building the plastic road presented many advantages including cheaper materials than traditional road-building materials and less time required for complexion before the road was fully installed.

The video below shows how the plastic road was installed:

After the success of the first plastic road, a second one was installed in late 2018 in the city of Giethoorn, also in The Netherlands. In this occasion, the goal was to test how the plastic road responded in weak soil conditions.

PlasticRoads plans on building more bike paths, pedestrian areas, and car parks around other cities in The Netherlands. Looking into the future, the three PlasticRoad partners are planning on building urban highways made of plastic.

In the future, single-use plastic might become a thing of the past. Presently, consumers use 500 billion single-use plastic bags per year with 75 percent of post consumer plastic waste being sent to a landfill.

It takes 10 years to 1,000 years for a single-use plastic bag to decompose. Plastic bottles take 450 years, in many cases it could take even more than that. Think all the plastic bottles you have discarded in your whole life will still be around polluting the planet centuries after you die.

Building plastic roads the LEGO way: Advantages

  • It is a lightweight prefabricated construction that can be built pretty much the LEGO way. It is four times lighter than a traditional road structure
  • Faster construction (months shorter) and less maintenance time
  • Higher quality and a longer lifespan. It is homogeneous and prefabricated. The lifespan is two to three times longer than a traditional road paving
  • Little to no maintenance required. The material is virtually impervious to conditions such as the weather and weeds
  • The innovation is considerably more sustainable. The goal is to make the PlasticRoad out of 100 percent recycled plastic and to make it fully reusable. It is perfectly in line with the Cradle to Cradle philosophy and the principles of the circular economy
  • Double use of space. The hollow space in the design can be used to store water or as space for cables and pipes
  • The possibility of constant traffic safety and water drainage
  • Everything on and around the road can be prefabricated including road markings and guardrails
  • It is scalable. The concept offers opportunities for further innovation. Examples include solar heated roads, light poles, and traffic loop sensors
  • A great added advantage is the contribution to the global social problem of plastic waste in an innovative and sustainable way

PlasticRoad is an innovative concept initiative of KWS, a Royal VolkerWessels company and market leader in road construction and the production of asphalt in The Netherlands. KWS partnered with Wavin, a company which operates within Orbia, and is a market leader in the recycling of plastics as well as specialist in making recycled plastic products for drain water drainage, and also with Total, to improve the properties of plastic, the recycling of plastic, and the available production techniques.

It all started when leading road builder KWS’ engineers came up with a smart solution to build more sustainable roads: Using plastic. Since then, the group has grown with partnerships that join forces to make cities smarter and sustainable.

Orbia is a purpose-driven company that aims to advance life around the world by focusing its business solutions on addressing six of the world’s biggest challenges aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. One of them is to make cities more livable, lovable, resilient, and regenerative.

By  Susan Fourtané

 

Source: Interesting Engineering

 

 

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modular homes academy – a UK first

Modular homes manufacturer ilke Homes has launched the UK’s first onsite academy to train house builders and engineers to make homes in factories, to help ease the construction skills and housing crisis.

The ilke Academy will hire people from all walks of life, including school-leavers, military veterans and ex-offenders. These groups are under-represented in traditional construction and manufacturing.

The ilke Academy will be based next to the ilke Homes factory in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, which currently has capacity to produce 2,000 homes a year. This will enable new recruits and existing staff to learn a range of vital skills including engineering, plumbing, manufacturing, carpentry and design.

The academy will also support trainees’ professional growth, with a leadership development course in place offering recruits internal progression opportunities and a clear career path in the emerging modular housing industry. The academy will welcome 162 recruits and further the training of current ilke Homes employees, with applications open to 17-year olds through to those extending their career beyond retirement.

The launch of the ilke Academy – the first ever on site academy focusing on homes built in a factory – follows similar measures undertaken by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who announced the Mayor’s Construction Academy, focusing on traditional construction, in 2018.

Through its academy, ilke Homes says it wants to train people typically viewed as unskilled or unemployable while also supporting the local economy.

Its management team hopes that by setting up networks with a local men’s and a local women’s prison, they can prevent re-offending and promote house building to a new generation of people, while providing stable employment opportunities in an emerging industry.

ilke Homes want to work with careers advisors to help change perceptions and address the considerable lack of young people entering construction.

In June, the business agreed the UK’s largest ever modular housing deal with Places for People for 750 homes. The company is currently working with private housebuilders, housing associations, councils and retirement community developers to supply high quality homes accredited by BOPAS and backed by the NHBC warranty.

Dave Sheridan, Executive Chairman of ilke Homes, said: “We have a responsibility to help people from all backgrounds find employment and for too long, the construction sector has sat on its hands while the skills shortage has hit crisis point.

“Creating local jobs and helping get more women and young people into the sector have to be priorities. The Government has ambitious targets to build new homes and only through investment in factories will this realistically happen. Investment will only flow if the right skills exist – and that’s why we are keen to collaborate with everyone in the industry.

“Offsite manufacturing gives people a genuine, clear career path together with the opportunity to play a part in disrupting UK house building.

“Anyone, be they a school-leaver seeking their first full-time job or a reformed offender, should have the chance to be trained – not least when they can help end the housing crisis by building beautiful, high-quality homes.”

Duncan O’Leary, Chief Executive of the New Futures Network, a specialist part of Her Majesty’s Prison Service, said: “This is a fantastic initiative that will benefit ilke Homes, the individuals involved and the families and communities they are part of.

“Training and work placements in prisons equip offenders with skills they can use to find employment upon release. Having a job helps them get their lives back on track and ultimately keeps the public safe. By offering ex-offenders training relevant to their business, ilke Homes are joining over 300 employers that already benefit from hiring skilled people from prisons.”

Nigel Adams MP, Member of Parliament for Selby and Ainsty, said:”It’s no secret that the construction industry has struggled to cope with the ongoing skills shortage. The launch of the ilke Academy represents a huge step in the right direction in teaching new skills for local people from all walks of life, creating new and exciting jobs, whilst boosting our local economy.

“I am delighted to see that Yorkshire has established itself as a hotbed of housing innovation. This will be vital as we continue to reverse the brain drain that the capital has swallowed up and ensure that we can attract top talent to the region.”

Gill Cronin, Director of Operations at The 5% Club, said: “The ilke Academy is a very welcome step to establishing a factory-focused workforce to build homes of the future.

“Ensuring that people are engaged, trained and educated in modern methods of construction is crucial if this nascent industry is to grow quickly. It’s vital that the private sector takes greater responsibility for equipping future employees with the skills and knowledge needed to create the homes of tomorrow.”

 

Source: The Business Desk

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A NEW MILESTONE IN INFRASTRUCTURE RESEARCH – The City Intelligence Lab

With the opening of its City Intelligence Lab (CIL), the Center for Energy, the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) is setting a new milestone in its research infrastructure.

“The City Intelligence Lab at the Center for Energy is bringing about a paradigm shift by using digital technologies to include user perspectives, making the lab an international model when it comes to urban planning processes of the future,” says Wolfgang Hribernik, Head of the Center for Energy, at the opening. Functioning as an interactive platform, the City Intelligence Lab combines innovative processes with the latest digital planning tools using big data and artificial intelligence (AI). It is therefore able to realistically simulate and run through scenarios such as the climate situation in different parts of the city.

City Intelligence Lab – an international model laboratory

The laboratory is an interactive platform designed to allow tomorrow’s urban planning professionals to investigate new methodologies and technologies and takes a co-creative development approach, enabling the joint creation of new knowledge. “In establishing this laboratory we have produced a platform and a space for experimentation, what you could call a sort of medical laboratory for digital technologies,” says Nikolas Neubert, Head of the Competence Unit for Digital Resilient Cities at the Center for Energy.

The laboratory applies key technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence in order to develop complex simulations and parametric designs. “The innovative achievement of tomorrow’s urban planning will be to apply digital technologies in order to create diverse planning scenarios which offer a broad portfolio of solutions for cities and their inhabitants. We have created the infrastructure necessary to do this,” Nikolas Neubert goes on to explain. The laboratory is equipped with interactive projection screens and models which together provide an improved collaborative planning environment, as well as an AI-based urban planning model which combines real-time simulation prediction and generative design, enabling the experts to explore unprecedented situations.

By working closely with other research institutions such as the Future Cities Lab at the ETH Zurich, and through close links with the private sector, the CIL is designed to become an international hub which facilitates the development of new research approaches.

Climate change and digitalisation in cities demand new ideas for planning and implementation

Urbanisation is a modern phenomenon. It requires cities to intelligently manage their growth and find answers to the challenges of climate change.
“Again, this year, we experienced an extreme heatwave. The growth and increased densification of cities only enhances the problem of overheating during the summer months,” explains Nikolas Neubert. Overheating is understood as the growing number of very hot days which reach a maximum temperature of over 30°C, and tropical nights in which the nighttime temperature never falls below 20°C. This development poses a health burden for the population.

“In order to make cities more resilient to this situation, we can use machine learning in the City Intelligence Lab to simulate microclimates for summer days and heatwaves, both with and without adaptation measures, to run through different climate models, and to present the results in visual form. This allows us to immediately identify the measures which would be effective in helping to cool particular areas of the city,” Nikolas Neubert says.

Digital technologies shift the focus of urban planning to the needs of residents

The innovative achievement of urban planning will be to use digital technologies in order to create diverse planning scenarios which offer a broad spectrum of solutions for cities and their inhabitants. In the LiLa4Green project, for example, a research team led by the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology is working together with city residents in two districts of Vienna to develop ideas and solutions to counteract urban overheating in parts of the city. The Living Lab approach combines innovative social science methodology with cutting-edge digital technologies in order to involve citizens in Wien Favoriten and Matznerviertel (Wien Hietzing) as early on in the planning process as possible. The aim is to ensure that the measures have a significant social impact and are widely accepted. In September 2019 LiLa4Green was selected as a candidate for IBA_Vienna 2022. LiLa4Green is being funded by the Climate and Energy Fund – Smart Cities Demo.

Innovations for cities and the built environment 

In its Digital Resilient Cities research field, the Center for Energy at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology blends urban planning expertise with state-of-the-art city management and planning solutions. The researchers combine innovative processes with cutting-edge digital planning tools using big data and artificial intelligence (AI). Although the research projects are based in Austria, a large proportion (60%) of them are international. Know-how “Made in Austria” is in demand everywhere, whether in Germany, Argentina or Uzbekistan.

AIT Center for Energy

At the AIT Center for Energy over 200 experts are developing sustainable solutions for our future energy system under the leadership of Wolfgang Hribernik. The Center combines longstanding experience and scientific excellence with high quality laboratory infrastructure and a global network to offer companies innovative applied research services, providing them with a competitive edge in this promising market. A total of 370 research projects were carried out in 2018, with European projects accounting for 41 percent. The thematic portfolio of the Center for Energy focuses on three key systems: sustainable energy infrastructure, decarbonisation of industrial processes and facilities, and innovative technologies and solutions for cities and the built environment. More information about the Center can be founc on this link

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The floating home for eco conscious Bond Villains

If you’ve ever wanted to live like a criminal mastermind in your very own oceanic lair—get set for your next six-figure purchase: This new eco-friendly floating apartment mimics a famous James Bond villain’s pad and could be yours for a neat $480,000.

Designed by French naval architect Jean-Michel Duacancelle, the fully autonomous pod takes creative cues from “Atlantis:” a deep-sea citadel and laboratory which belonged to the wicked webbed-fingered Karl Stomberg in the 1977 Bond classic The Spy Who Loved Me. If that reference is lost on you, it basically looks like a lo-fi aquatic UFO.

“The strange floating saucer in which the famous British spy was sailing in the 10th movie of the James Bond franchise started my obsession,” Duacancelle told Robb Report.

Dubbed the Anthénea, the luxury floating home has taken five prototypes—roughly 15 years—to complete, one of which is currently stationed off the coast of France. But unlike its muse, this lair is focused on doing good: The Anthénea is equipped with five solar panels atop the dome which renders it fully power autonomous.

“I am passionate about the idea that tomorrow’s habitat will absolutely have to be eco-friendly and be put at the heart of our natural environment,” Duacancellem said.

Composed of fiberglass, the Anthénea produces its own energy; it’s entirely self-sufficient and completely off the grid. In addition to the solar panels, it features six powerful batteries with the ability to recharge from the pontoon. And there’s no need to stress, a sensor keeps you informed about the level of energy and when it’s too low the generating set will take over. The pod is reportedly more stable than a boat: It can brave a cyclone—or a pesky secret agent—and the insulation allows it to cope with temperatures ranging from -22° to 104° Fahrenheit.

Inside, the futuristic home boasts an expansive glass bottom which affords epic underwater views. French fashion mogul Pierre Cardin—who invested in the company—designed the interior and thus it’s suitably luxurious. The Anthénea is split into three living spaces: a living room with plush sofa and minibar, a bedroom featuring a circular bed and relaxing tub and a relaxation area on the rooftop which accommodates 12. It also comes complete with a 360° solarium. The best part? Everything inside is crafted from sustainable materials—an eco-friendly touch that earned the Anthénea the coveted 2019 Innovation Trophy from French tourism magazine L’Echo Touristique.

If you’ve got an evil (or eco) streak and are keen to procure the Anthénea, you can visit the showroom off the coast of France, or head to Cannes Film Festival to see a pop-up pod.

 

Source: Robb Report

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How Smart is London

London’s reputation as a smart city is long established and well deserved. The capital leads the world in designing and implementing creative and ambitious civic innovations. ‘Tapping in’ with a contactless payment card has become second nature to thousands of Londoners every day, smart technologies and data-sharing help us improve the city’s air quality through the new Ultra Low Emissions Zone and smart districts across the city are already test-beds for connected and autonomous vehicles, aerial drones and 5G technology. 

Earlier this summer, I attended a New Statesman round table sponsored by Virgin Media Business. It brought together industry and local government leaders to discuss the implications of smart city technology and look at the opportunities opened up by digital transformation initiatives across the country.

‘Smarter London Together’, launched last June by Sadiq Khan, champions a new approach to the way data and technology serve those who live, work in and visit the capital.  It represents a three-year plan to build up our common capabilities across 32 boroughs, NHS Trusts and major public bodies, linking them with London’s major universities and mobilising our world-class tech sector for civic benefit.

It’s important to remember that most of the hard work that goes in to making our city smarter for citizens is the relatively unglamorous work of digital transformation.  San Francisco’s Chief Digital Officer Carrie Bishop describes it as this: “Not the sexy work of blog posts and talks, the unsexy work of integrating with legacy systems, redesigning websites, and consolidating infinite forms.” It’s a quiet revolution and one London is at the forefront of.

Too often talk about ‘smart cities’ focuses too heavily on technology and not enough on people. Therefore, we stress the importance of citizen-led design in everything we do. This approach has enabled us to innovate in areas such as community giving and procurement in very different ways.

The Crowdfund London platform allows anyone to propose and develop an idea for a neighbourhood project, then coordinate local support, resources and funding through a public campaign. The Mayor then pledges funds to live campaigns and supports local groups to make their ideas a reality. By understanding the needs of users across communities in London we’ve been able to lend additional support to areas where social capital needs that extra bit of help.

The Mayor’s Civic Innovation Challenge offers an opportunity for start-ups to work together with leading businesses and public bodies to develop innovative solutions to the big issues facing our city: climate change, access to housing, helping those with dementia and tackling isolation among vulnerable Londoners.  To make sure proposals always have the user at their core, the Talk London Platform – an online community of over 40,00 Londoners – is used to test ideas directly and provide swift feedback.

Tackling some of London’s big challenges requires major changes in data-sharing.   Our city has long been recognised as a leader in mobilising open data for public benefit. The London Datastore enables public bodies to tackle complex urban challenges, such as poor air quality, the housing crisis and inequality. And nearly half of all Londoners regularly use travel apps such as Citymapper, made possible with live data provided by Transport for London.

With the growth of the Internet of Things, transparency around how we use people’s data is paramount. This is why London piloted a new data trust with the Open Data Institute so we can share data while safeguarding Londoners’ privacy and security and developing an approach to data ethics across all public services.

We now want to see a step-change in data-sharing, with a new Datastore acting as the central register of open and secure data, not just for insights but to support innovation to tackle congestion, access to skills and the climate crisis.

Our Connected London Programme is London’s first strategic approach to improving access to full fibre in homes.  We’ve proposed major changes to the future planning system and work with each London borough to ensure they have a joined-up approach to fixed and mobile connectivity, supported by investments from City Hall.  TfL is set to roll out 4G mobile technology on trains and there is the potential for the Tube network to act as a huge fibre spine for London, lowering the costs for investment in underserved areas of the city. This will prepare the way for 5G, as will the hundreds of thousands of public assets, like lampposts and public buildings, which could carry the technology and infrastructure to make this a reality.

Through the Mayor’s Digital Talent Programme we’re providing support to the next generation of the city’s tech pioneers by enhancing the digital skills of young women as well as Londoners from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Finally, one of the big barriers local government needs to address is our limited history of collaboration and sharing best practice, meaning efforts are often unnecessarily duplicated.  Existing models, such as shared services, often suffer from too much governance and are rarely scaled beyond a handful of authorities.

Working with London Councils and several forward-thinking boroughs, we launched the new London Office of Technology and Innovation (LOTI) this summer. This is a new city-wide body which will build common capability and the opportunity to collaborate and scale digital and smart technology across the capital’s public services.

By focusing on our core capabilities first, understanding what technologies support our services and encouraging stronger leadership in data and service design we’re creating a fresh approach to smart thinking that enables us to better meet the needs of our citizens.

By Theo Blackwell

 

Source: The Newstatesman

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