Futuristic UK town inspired by Ocado's warehouse robots
Sprawling and futuristic corporate campuses have become a norm from Silicon Valley to Shenzen, but the people working there still have to commute back to their very ordinary homes at the end of the working day.
However, it doesn’t take too much of a stretch of the imagination for these corporations to expand their business infrastructure into entire lifestyles for their workers.
That is the concept behind a visionary exercise undertaken by mortgage experts at Bankrate UK, who have taken inspiration from the dismal company towns of the industrial revolution, and created futuristic visions of “what life could look like if well-known companies once again created purpose-built houses and towns for their employees”.
“The last 12 months have seen a seismic shift in how and where we work, with many companies adapting and switching to remote ways of working,” says Bankrate’s content editor, Nisha Vaidya. “But if this new way of operating is here to stay, how could companies innovate to ensure the best work-life balance for those employees unable to do their job from home?”
The starting point is to pose a simple question, like: “Imagine Tesla as a town?”
Bankrate has proposed fascinating possibilities for a range of companies, from Ocado and its robot-run factories to IKEA’s simple, straightforward approach.
These are the most fascinating visions, as spelled out by Bankrate:
Ocado
With their robot-run factories and ambitious environmental goals, a town created by the world’s first online supermarket Ocado would be the perfect combination of eco-friendliness and futuristic thinking.
Inspired by their ground-breaking automated warehouses, the town would feature an extensive grid system, allowing for all deliveries to be made by robot postal workers and autonomous delivery drones.
At the heart of the town, large eco domes would house exotic plants, fruits and vegetables. With unlimited access, employees and their families would be encouraged to only farm and consume the exact amount they required. Supporting the business’s zero-waste initiative, any additional produce grown would be donated to local food banks.
The addition of vertical farms would allow year-round crop development, providing a place to grow large varieties of produce onsite in the UK.
The Ocado Technology Academy would provide both staff and their families with the opportunity for further learning and development, whilst allowing Ocado to nurture the next generation of big tech thinkers.
Employees’ homes would be environmentally low impact and built from a mixture of recycled waste and bamboo. Plants grown on the roofs would help to regulate the temperature and produce oxygen, whilst large windows would reduce the need for internal lights, in turn lowering electricity usage.
