Urban-Air Port Thought Leaders - The Board of Advisors Speak Out
#007 Andy Whitworth
Founder and current Deputy Chairman of Kinetic Solutions Group (KSG) formally known as SCX Special Projects, tells us what’s on his mind.
Andy Whitworth in dialogue with Urban-Air Port CEO Andrea Wu and major UK retailer
Visions - Delivered
I’ve been around complex, kinetic structures for most of my working career, from Wimbledon’s Centre and No1 Court’s iconic roofs to the English Premiere League’s Tottenham Hotspur retractable, dividing football pitch. Trust me when I say, no matter how hard you dream, how impossible a task or project appears - a great team pulling together can overcome any technical challenge to deliver. That’s Urban-Air Port.
No fear. Innovative. Creative. Collaborative. Experienced.
Award Winning.
The innovative and ongoing development of the Urban-Air Port technology & infrastructure solution requires a careful blend of knowledgeable and diverse skill sets to ensure a cohesive and robust end product is engineered - one that perfectly matches the demands of the customers, those of the regulators and constraints of our built environment.
Understanding the complex challenges and regulations around delivering technically bias construction projects, especially when there are large moving elements involved, requires experience and an in-depth knowledge of broad engineering disciplines.
These first of a kind designs are engineered to deliver higher levels of reliability and integrity beyond that of which is normally required for general commercial solutions. This requirement is often driven by the critical nature of the application. As in many high profile kinetic architecture projects, any risk of failure that could result in potential harm to people, processes, assets, and infrastructure - is unacceptable. Higher degree of caution is required. Making the innovators life even harder!
It was clear from the outset, that the uniquely & thoughtfully composed Urban-Air Port approach and team had all the ingredients to engineer & deliver these innovative solutions - those required to create the world’s first vertical take-off vertiport in an extremely constrained urban location and delivering an entirely new, and exciting way of making sustainable urban air transport possible. That’s why they have won the hard-earned awards from established, transport industry ambassadors and bodies such as Intelligent Transport Systems for “Better Environment through Technology” and also real-world project awards for Safety and Innovation. It’s award season after all!
It all starts and ends with the Team.
A dedicated team of experts across a broad range of disciplines and with the right cognitive cohesion, to interact, engage and integrate is a prerequisite to create the right vision & develop the optimum solution. Interdisciplinary thinking and collaboration is vital. That of course, brings its own challenges, especially in managing a team with deep disciplinary expertise and strong individual vision. Urban-Air Port’s Board of Directors work hard to create an environment where influencers & lateral thinkers have their voices heard and respected, whilst at the same time ensuring respect is afforded to alternative ideas and/or strategies of those from adjacent disciplines but with experienced voices; its critical that every voice is heard. Thats where the Urban-Air Port Board of Advisors comes into its own, a design board, a counsel with hundreds of years of experience in all the prerequisites. Its a privilege for me to serve on this Board.
“The litany of patents Urban-Air Port holds are afforded by this approach, the virtue of a patent is precisely that one has “advanced human knowledge” and to advance human knowledge, something that nobody before has been able or attempted to do - takes a powerful vision and a formidable team.”
In my experience, some of the best ideas come out of someone being allowed to freely express their views without feeling intimidated and for any company let alone a start-up, building that environment is not easy, but that’s where Urban-Air Port excells. To quote an old lecturer of mine, which has stuck with me throughout my career is “No design is ever wrong, it’s just that some designs work better than others”.
The best designs are delivered by the best listeners.
Open discussions and clear transparent dialogue with clients, suppliers, industry peers with no hidden agendas is vital. Creating an environment that encourages open conversation, provides strong foundations for the future, anchors the requirements/understanding and stimulates ideas allowing the team to start painting pictures of final solutions. The journey is, absolutely, as important as the destination, maybe even more so.
“Urban-Air Ports’ journey has been one of the highlights of my career. ”
Urban-Air Port connecting the Air with the Ground via its Vertical Airfield technology
To see the application and transfer of know-how / engineering experience from my industry (I started with Street Cranes) cleverly applied to an entirely new genre and to see that blossom into an industry leading solution is so rewarding and encouraging.
So I always like to stick to first principles. To create the space for innovation to happen but be that guiding light, that counsel - to challenge the team to achieve simplicity on their way towards the customer’s goal. That’s one of my roles on the Board of Advisors. Keep the team trajectory but allow a controlled zig and zag if it makes sense.
I’ve become a good listener, that’s because I’ve learnt over many (many) years that in order to contribute practically to the solution, you first have to appreciate what the end goal is, listen and respect what other views are about the challenges and what they see are important issues to overcome. Viewing the challenge as a new ‘Jigsaw’ puzzle, every piece must fit in the right place, and only when the last piece is fitted, can you sit back and admire your creation. This should be the same mindset for delivering a successful project. Advanced Air Mobility is a very big jigsaw and it needs the skills and talents of the team at Urban-Air Port to ensure this exciting jigsaw fits together safely, efficiently and effortlessly when it touches the ground!
Urban-Air Port’s unique approach
The key factors Urban-Air Port considers when faced with solving / delivering their integrated kinetic vertiport projects such as Air One and Air One Next Gen, includes a broad range of design & engineering disciplines. Some of these critical factors to delivering successfully are called out here;
Mechanical mechanisms & systems.
Power, Control & Instrumentation.
Structure - including an open mind to material selection.
Safety, Reliability, Redundancy - including standby/recovery equipment.
Finishes & Fire Protection.
Sustainability & Design for Manufacture & Assembly
Data and measures of performance are important to Urban-Air Port too and influence the engineering design process which is why the team always considers the following key factors in each tailored delivery of their vertiport infrastructure including their impressive & proprietary Vertical Airfield technology.
Developing a realistic & appropriate specification - understanding where the risks are, right size the spec for the functionality required.
Cost consideration - ensure the design reflects the specification, a Rolls Royce may not be required if a Ford Focus will do (no offence to Ford!).
Interaction with their existing mass-production partners and supply-chain - an appreciation and an understanding of how different suppliers / trades interact with each other.
Design - This may differ for a prototype compared to that of a production model - don’t reinvent the wheel but again right-size it and tailor as required.
Ease & Speed of Assembly - Modular approach to design, reduce site activities to a minimum where practicable.
Consider Operational and Maintenance needs - Particularly relevant when operating in different geographical regions. Customer experience and climatic conditions often get overlooked by enthusiasts.
“eVTOL batteries don’t like heat or cold, their external tilt rotors won’t like dusty environments and humid locations require very careful specification considerations in respect to finishes.”
Of course, all these and much more will be crucial to operational success of Urban-Air Port. The real magic happens when these ingredients are blended in just the right way to create the optimum solution for any given location. Understanding cities and having built a multitude of complex infrastructure projects from bridges, train stations, super high towers, electric charging stations and mega airports - helps Urban-Air Port understand how to provide the most viable and sustainable infrastructure solution for your location.
