‘Leaves for lunch’ now has a whole new meaning

Liverpool’s Cotton Exchange is now the first workspace in the UK to have a hydroponic ‘edible wall’. Workers can help themselves to a lovely lettuce or get busy with the frisée whenever the fancy takes them.

Bruntwood Works, one of the UK’s leading property providers, has collaborated with Farm Urban, Liverpool’s high-tech urban farm pioneers, on the hydroponic edible wall, using their cutting-edge vertical farming system at the city’s iconic Cotton Exchange building. 

We can’t wait to start getting our daily greens and being part of the next chapter for Farm Urban

The wall has been installed in the ground floor of the Grade II listed building, so that it is accessible to everyone - from freelancers to bigger enterprises – who uses the workspaces inside. All those based at the Cotton Exchange will have access to the ultimate local lunch as they are invited to pick free, fresh salad leaves from the wall any time they like. 

Bruntwood Works, who own and manage over 5m sq ft of inspiring workspace environments across Manchester, Cheshire, Leeds, Liverpool and Birmingham, wanted to work with Farm Urban as part of the organisation's commitment to sustainability, well-being and supporting communities and customers. Their aim is to promote a better work-life balance with access to a range of wellness, retail and leisure facilities within its buildings. 

Farm Urban are the team behind the Greens for Good project based in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle. They believe in ‘food for the future, for everyone’ and have developed innovative new ways of growing food in urban environments to feed the local community. They use hydroponics to create space-saving, high-tech urban farms that produce hyper local, pesticide-free food in a sustainable way. These farms can help to regenerate communities, provide jobs, promote health and lower carbon emissions. At Greens for Good for example, Farm Urban are now feeding the local community with super tasty, sustainable greens via a vertical farm underneath the Baltic Triangle. Living leaves are delivered locally by bike in reusable, compostable packaging. 

“Farm Urban are a fantastic, pioneering organisation who are doing incredible things in the city,” said Colin Forshaw, Regional Director at Bruntwood Works. “Their vision of using cutting edge technology to find a more sustainable way to feed our communities is greatly aligned to our ambitions around sustainability and innovation so they were the perfect partner for us. We also strive to create the very best environment for our customers – where they can blend lifestyle with workspace for a productive and positive work-life balance. We can’t wait to start getting our daily greens and being part of the next chapter for Farm Urban.”

Paul Myers, Founder of Farm Urban commented: “We’re delighted to be partnering with Bruntwood Works to bring this incredible, edible wall to the Cotton Exchange. Our ambition is to feed the local community in the most sustainable way possible - we work with schools and communities and it is wonderful to now bring the power of the freshest local greens to the workplace too, thanks to Bruntwood Works. It’s excellent to see organisations of this size take sustainability seriously.” 

About Cotton Exchange

Cotton Exchange is a thriving office space to rent in Liverpool. The Grade II listed building is in the heart of the commercial district and offers everything from coworking to suit freelancers and start-ups, small offices to rent, and larger workspaces for established enterprises. It sits in the Cotton Quarter which also includes Cotton House, and this occupies the front section of Cotton Exchange facing out onto the bustling Old Hall Street. The building also has ultra-fast broadband available to all offices.

Once the nerve centre of the global cotton trading industry, the building has undergone extensive refurbishment and has a cutting-edge reception area, meeting rooms, and a series of collaboration and breakout spaces. This unique building also has excellent amenities including bike storage, showers, a private roof garden.