The world’s first underground farm is located 100ft underneath Clapham.
A Clapham underground farm which grows seedlings in a disused WW2 Bomb Shelter is to open its doors for the first time.
For the past month, Growing Underground has been advertising tickets starting from £40 for a chance to have a guided tour to the farm’s production site underneath Clapham’s busy streets. This is the first time that the farm will be opening its doors to the general public.
Growing Underground is a subterranean urban farm hidden inside a disused WW2 Air Raid Shelter, which had been abandoned for 70 years until entrepreneurs and co-owners Richard Ballard and Steven Dring came along. Its site is a 2.5-acres long tunnel with the capacity to accommodate up to 8,000 people, 100ft under the surface.
Those interested in visiting the farm must comply with age and clothing safety restrictions. Given its unique features, the company’s founders have restricted the entrance to children over the age of 14 and have advised a careful choice of clothing: open toe footwear or high-heels, jewelry and watches will need to be taken off before entering the premise.
The farm, which has been running from 2015, it’s growing what it calls “sustainable and mouth-wateringly fresh micro greens and salad”. Radish, pea shoots, watercress, rocket, coriander and mustard leaf are among the crops being cultivated. Using a hydroponic systems – a method of growing plants in a nutrient rich solution without soil – the company claims to use 70 percent less water than traditional open-field farming. Other than that, given that the production is being held without the aid of natural sunlight using LEDs, the crops are grown year-round in an environment unaffected by the weather and seasonal changes, removing the risks of agricultural run-off. Given its central location, GU praises how it has decreased the food mileage for retailers and consumers, aiming to reduce its carbon footprint. Working in full capacity, the farm is able to produce over 48,000 lbs of greens a year.
Since its foundation, Growing Underground has held crowdfunding campaigns, in which they have raised over £243k, and has received over a million pounds in investment for its development. Currently, they have partnerships with local restaurants and major supermarkets such as Marks and Spencer’s.
One of the founders, Richard Ballard, came up with the idea for the farm when he was producing his final thesis as a Film student. Richard decided to base his work on the questions regarding the sustainability of future cities, and it was during his research that he came across the possibilities that could come from constructing underneath cities. Now Richard, alongside his childhood friend Steven Dring, is working towards finding an alternative to the somewhat arduously ways that we source our food, claiming that the answer might be in the unconventional methods of Growing Underground.
