Jaguar unveils electric ‘vision’ for urban areas

Jaguar has teamed up with architecture practice Barr Gazetas to depict four urban “proposals”, suggesting how assets could be repurposed to cater to an increasing demand for electric vehicles.  ■ Motorway services One concept showed what a motorway service station could look like with electrification, with reduced noise and pollution and increased “dwell time” resulting in “destination” stations. These could include amenities and services including farm shops, gymnasiums, swimming pools and restaurants to give travellers greater options to occupy the time required to charge their vehicles. The partnership used Forton Services on the M6 as an example. ■ Multi-storey car parks The partnership re-imagined the multi-storey car park on Welbeck Street behind Oxford Street, W1, as a “self-sufficient charging plaza”. At these, electric vehicle owners who do not have access to off-street parking at their homes could charge their cars near public transport hubs. The concept at Welbeck Street uses its existing structural grid to support solar photovoltaic panels, which could provide clean energy for inner-city electric vehicle owners to charge their cars. The result would therefore be more environmentally friendly, while parts of the building freed up for retail and leisure use. ■ Redundant brownfield sites Taking Liverpool’s Stanley Dock as an example, the proposals re-imagine the building as a community interchange that can create new community facilities and industries based on green energy. In this way, redundant sites could offer a “multi-modal ‘last mile’ connection” to cities, while rejuvenating the surrounding communities. ■ Electric future  The proposals depict a vision of London as a cleaner city with more green space, if repurposed to adapt to electric vehicle use. Cities across the UK would be electrically self-sufficient by harnessing solar and tidal power to power the increased number of electric vehicles, both land-based and airborne. [gallery type="slideshow" ids="951597,951596,951595,951594"] Realising opportunity Jon Eaglesham, managing director at Barr Gazetas, said: “This study is all about realising opportunity. These four concepts should all be possible within a generation.  “As architects, together with town planners and authorities national and local, we need to embrace this opportunity now, and bring visions such as these to reality, improving experiences, and indeed lives, up and down the country.” Ian Callum, director of design at Jaguar, added: “As a designer, I am hugely excited by the opportunity this widespread adoption of electric cars presents.  “We have a unique chance for wholesale change of the facilities available to drivers as we re-invent usage and ‘filling’ patterns for our vehicles. The concepts we are presenting here with the team of architects show a vision of what is possible, what is needed and what it could look like.” Find out more about the role of electric vehicles will play in the future of our urban areas by attending EG’s Future of London event at Printworks next week. To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@egi.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @estatesgazette