3 Outline of workshops

Approach

The Future of Service Areas workshops were designed with collaboration, knowledge sharing and innovation in mind. They offered the opportunity to explore the question:

Through the workshop exercises, participants reframed this question in a way that facilitated open dialogue whilst developing specific priorities, building consensus and drawing on industry expertise, exploring how electrification intersects with innovative travel modes, economic paradigms, and sustainability.

At the heart of the programme, the workshops brought together ideas from a cross-section of experts and key stakeholders involved and interested in the future of these spaces. These include representatives across the UK from design, transport, infrastructure, the natural environment, hospitality, accessibility, and more.

The two workshops were designed around the Design Council’s framework for innovation –including the Double Diamond design process. Through this process, National Highways and stakeholders were asked to step back from jumping to solutions and instead focus on ensuring the right challenges were explored.

Following each workshop, the Design Council undertook consolidation activities to review and analyse the themes and ideas generated and draw these down to principles, examples and outcomes (see below).

Workshop structure

Provocations

Short presentations at the beginning of each workshop created an atmosphere of genuine challenge, exploration and excitement for participants and set the scene for innovative thinking.

Attendees

Workshop One

• Robin Haycock: Electric vehicles, Sustainability and Transport

• Jonathan McDowell: Architecture and future environments

Workshop Two

• Lindsey Wilkinson: Landscape Architecture

• Linda Chandler: Smart Cities, Technology & data

• Ross Crawford (Design Council): Explore Station Programme

• Kathryn Woolf: User-centric design research

Workshop One: Mapping the Challenges

Workshop One addressed the challenges of reimagining Motorway Service Areas’ end-user experience. It promoted a collaborative mindset, building enthusiasm among participants while highlighting the opportunities within the challenge. Through a systematic approach, the workshop applied divergent thinking to broaden the scope of insights before converging on opportunity areas. This approach, in addition to a comprehensive mapping of the diverse customers and users involved in shaping, delivering, commissioning, and using these spaces, ultimately strengthens the capacity to generate value and innovation.

Workshop Two: Ideating Future Opportunities

Workshop Two focused on ideation, building upon the challenge areas identified in Workshop One. This session delved deeper into the possibilities that lie ahead for Motorway Service Areas. We also drew on the participants’ expertise to envision what they feel the future service area should embody. Workshop participants explored potential opportunities through structured ideation exercises, fostering creative thinking and innovation and nurturing a shared understanding of what success might look like.

To help ensure the next generation of motorway service areas fulfils its potential, the workshops aimed to bring together a cross-section of attendees from different industries that worked or had an interest in this field. They contributed to the insights in this report and include fields from road infrastructure, Service Area Operators, the design sector; and civic and commercial fields.