Skyportz, which is focused on establishing the landing infrastructure for eVTOLs, has partnered with Contreras Earl Architecture and Pascall+Watson Architects to release a concept for a waterfront vertiport to replace an existing heliport on the Yarra River in Melbourne. The designs are being showcased at the World Air Taxi Congress, taking place 2-5 October in San Francisco.
As well as accommodating electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, the site would serve as a multi-modal hub for electric scooters, bikes, ferries and hire boats and would feature a cafe.
Skyportz CEO, Clem Newton-Brown, commented: “We have been developing designs and concepts for vertiports for five years and we keep coming back to waterfront sites being the most practical to retrofit cities for Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). The reality is that waterfront sites porvide the safest access for electric air taxis in terms of aviation requirements for clear approach and departure paths.”
He also noted that waterfront locations are also likely to be one of the few sites where land is available in most cities to accommodate terminals with the option to have floating pads.
“Paris has five vertiports proposed for the Olympics next year. They will be primarily using existing airports and helipads. The one new vertiport they have chosen is to be on the river. This aligns with our thinking that when cities need to actually choose vertiport locations the lowest hanging fruit will be the waterfront locations.” Newton-Brown continued.
The proposed waterfront terminal will feature a high-performance roof with an aluminium monocoque structure designed to be structurally robust, lightweight and sustainable. It will also use existing helicopter permissions to offer a quiet, zero-pollution solution that gets users “quickly and quietly to and from a range of metropolitan destinations,” said Martin Neilan, Aviation Director, Pascall+Watson Architects.
Referencing the design of the vertiport, he noted: “It forms an ideal complement to the city’s Greenline Masterplan objectives to achieve both an environmentally and commercially viable revitalised Yarra frontage with drastically improved pedestrian access.”
Newton-Brown concluded that the key to this industry is breaking the nexus between aviation and existing airports. “We need to develop a network of new veritport sites if the industry is to reach its potential and we see the greatest potential in waterfront locations,” he said.
Check out the latest issue of Regional Gateway magazine to hear more from Clem Newton-Brown on vertiport infrastructure.
