Empty roofs, growing
A city has thousands of flat, sunlit roofs with nothing on them. We reach an agreement with the people who own them, install a growing site, and run it. What comes off the roof goes to the people living below and around it.
- Madrid
- Rooftop
- Packed where grown
The model
- The agreement
- We approach a building’s owners or its residents’ association. The roof stays theirs. We handle the installation, the electrical and plumbing work it needs, the running of the site, and the cost of what it uses.
- The installation
- A growing site is built on the roof: nursery beds, irrigation, and the structure that lets plants grow upward rather than outward. The building carries no new obligation once it is running.
- The tending
- Each site is looked after by a member of our staff, who grows and harvests it. One person tends several sites across a neighbourhood.
- The harvest
- Produce is picked when it is ready and packed on the spot, in sustainable materials. It does not wait in a warehouse for a lorry.
- The route
- Where we can, a box goes straight from the roof to the person who ordered it. Where we cannot, it passes through one facility in the same city. There is no wholesaler and no central market in between.
- The surplus
- A roof does not produce exactly what people order in a given week. What is not sent out is sold to shops in the area rather than left to spoil.
If you have a roof
A planted roof shades the building underneath it and cools the air above it. The work, the upkeep and the running costs are ours. What we need from a building is the space, the access, and the agreement of the people who live there.