Beulah explores “urban farm” at its Southbank site

The developer behind what will be Australia’s tallest tower has announced yet another intriguing activation of its City Rd site while it prepares for construction: a 200sqm pop-up “macrofarm”.

The STH BNK By Beulah project received planning approval back in April 2020 to construct twin towers at the former BMW showroom site, one of which will measure at 365 metres tall once completed.

The following year, Beulah acquired the adjoining Hanover House site to expand the project’s total footprint in Southbank to 7706 sqms.

Once complete, it will incorporate new apartments, office space, a Four Seasons hotel, an arts and cultural centre by France’s Centre Pompidou and an impressive mix of public and private amenities never-before-seen in Melbourne.

While it prepares for long-awaited construction, the developer has staged several activations for the community across its site, including transforming Hanover House into experimental cultural space “BETA by STH BNK”.

In November, it also engaged Melbourne artist George Rose to transform the rooftop of the former BMW building into a “biophilic oasis” large-scale mural of Australian natives for overlooking residents, workers, and visitors in surrounding towers to enjoy.

And now, it has announced a partnership with Sydney-based community vertical farming business Greenspace to activate the site with a hydroponic farming exploration which seeks to disrupt “traditional food production”.

Beulah said that the 200-sqm pop-up macrofarm, described as a “profound new interconnected vertical farming mode”, would be “instrumental in exploring the future of urban agriculture” while raising awareness about sustainable farming within cities.

Greenspace transforms under-utilised city spaces into commercial vertical macrofarms and within the Southbank site, various microgreens, herbs and salads have been planted to bring urban farming to the city centre.

Local businesses already benefiting from the initiative include ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, Deloitte, Compass, Foodbuy, Hyatt, Sheraton, W hotels, Novotel, Zurich Insurance, Trippas White Group and Two Good Co.

The collaboration and experiment with Greenspace forms part of STH BNK by Beulah’s vision to explore the future of retail and programming in its development, as well as integrating community vertical farming.

“Vertical farms are the way of the future and at Beulah, we are continually researching, exploring, and experimenting to understand how present and future generations will live,” Beulah executive director Adelene Teh said.

“This collaboration highlights our sincere commitment to a more sustainable future, one where agriculture and retail can seamlessly intertwine to create community-wide benefits.”

Greenspace founder Peter Fox said his company was excited to be collaborating with Beulah to “hopefully reshape the future of city living via macro farms”.

Beulah said early works were expected to begin as part of the construction of its development this year and would take around five years to complete.