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Growing an Urban Farming Programme
A global organisation wanted to introduce urban farming across its London and Manchester workplaces, combining fresh food production with employee engagement, sustainability and wellbeing.
Square Mile Farms worked with the onsite Compass catering teams to create a growing programme spanning both cities. Five hydroponic Farmwalls now provide fresh produce for workplace catering alongside regular harvests and a programme of employee events and activities.
The challenge:
Creating a consistent
experience across sites
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The Farms needed to work with different spaces, catering teams and employee communities while providing a consistent experience across London and Manchester.
The programme also needed to balance the practical requirements of workplace catering with employee engagement, providing regular harvests and activities that would give people opportunities to get involved.
The solution:
Five Farmwalls
across two cities
The programme includes three Farmwalls in London and two in Manchester. When the Manchester Farms were introduced, the installation was completed in a single visit, followed by regular check-overs to establish the crops and prepare the Farmwalls for harvests.
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Square Mile Farms continues to provide Farm care so that there is no day-to-day maintenance required by the workplace teams.
Growing around the catering team's needs​
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The Farms work closely with the onsite Compass catering teams, with crop planning responding to what is useful in the kitchen.
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At the Manchester workplace, for example, the catering team requested a permanent supply of basil on one of the Farmwalls.
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This responsive approach means the Farms aren't simply decorative features. What is grown can be adapted around the people using the produce.
Bringing employees together
Regular harvests give employees opportunities to interact directly with the Farms. The sessions are a reason for people to gather, find out what's growing and learn about how fresh food is produced within their workplace.
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The repeated nature of these activities is important. Rather than being a one-off sustainability activation, growing and harvesting become part of the ongoing workplace experience.
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Taking engagement beyond the harvest
The Farms also provide a starting point for a wider programme of employee experiences. Activities have included herb-infused mocktail making, soap making, wreath making and smoothie making, extending engagement beyond food production alone.
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The workshops regularly book up, demonstrating an appetite for accessible, hands-on activities connected with growing, food and nature. This gives the Farms an ongoing role within the employee experience calendar rather than limiting their value to the produce they grow.
A partnership across multiple workplaces
Delivering the programme requires close collaboration between Square Mile Farms, the organisation's workplace teams and Compass.
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From installation and Farm care to crop planning, harvests and employee events, the programme brings together food services, facilities and employee experience across two locations. It demonstrates how urban farming can move beyond an individual installation to become a repeatable workplace programme across a wider property portfolio.
The results
5 Farmwalls across two cities
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Three hydroponic Farmwalls operate in London and two in Manchester.
Produce for office catering
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Crop planning responds to
needs of the onsite catering teams.
Bi-weekly harvests
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Giving employees opportunities to engage with food growing.
Wider experiences
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Activities including mocktail and wreath making extend engagement .
Consistently popular events
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Workshops regularly book up, providing ongoing workplace experiences.
Could an office Farm work in your project?
This type of installation could be relevant if you're:
A corporate occupier looking to create a consistent sustainability and employee experience programme across multiple workplaces.
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A food services team looking for fresh produce grown onsite, with crop plans that can respond to the requirements of your catering operation.
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A facilities team looking for a managed urban farming programme that can operate across different buildings and locations.
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An asset manager looking for an amenity that combines productive growing, wellbeing and ongoing engagement.
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A workplace design team looking to incorporate productive biophilia that can support activities and experiences long after installation.
