Biospheric Foundation

The Foundation is strategically positioned in Blackfriars, East Salford. This is an inner-city community (population c. 216, 000) that sits within the top 3% most deprived neighbourhoods in the country, with issues such as lack of skills, low employment levels, poor health with the majority of adults living alone, largely in high-rise social housing.

The Foundation has been working alongside local groups including Vertical Villages Tenants Association, Salix Homes and Contour Homes (two of the largest providers of social housing in Salford), Salford City Council and Salford City Police – to explore some of the challenges facing local residents and their future wants and needs.

Conversations have clearly highlighted issues around health, unemployment, crime and poverty, and thus a need was revealed for positive large-scale projects that not only offer individuals new opportunities and choices but also provide a sense of collective achievement and pride. There was also a community demand and need across Salford for local climate change adaptation schemes and food growing projects.

In response to this, The Biospheric Foundation started work on converting a disused, three-storey mill in the heart of Blackfriars into an action-led research and design space, dedicated to providing practical solutions to urban poverty. So far we have retrofitted two indoor floors into a meeting and events space piloting small-scale food interventions and practical space for Biospheric Urban Activities.

Development of this vision took a major step forward 16 months ago when The Biospheric Foundation partnered with The Manchester International Festival (MIF) to embark on a radical experiment in urban ‘vertical’ farming, called The Biospheric Project. The project introduced innovative approaches to indoor and outdoor food growing in a range of spaces within and adjacent to the building.

MIF highlighted their commitment to exploring urgent issues of our time and thanks to its profile is able to shine a spotlight on the issue of how communities produce food in urban environments. We successfully created a model of urban farming which was showcased to the world.

The indoor food systems introduced include aquaponics (where fish and plants are cultivated in a shared environment), hydroponics (systems for growing plants without soil, using mineral nutrient solutions) and other techniques combining food-growing with creative waste-upcycling, e. g. the cultivation of mushrooms in used coffee grounds. A permaculture garden on the roof of the building introduced a new green growing space in an otherwise high-rise urban environment, and a forest garden on adjoining land provides a working example of agroforestry.

The Foundation is strategically positioned in Blackfriars, East Salford. This is an inner-city community (population c. 216, 000) that sits within the top 3% most deprived neighbourhoods in the country, with issues such as lack of skills, low employment levels, poor health with the majority of adults living alone, largely in high-rise social housing.

The Foundation has been working alongside local groups including Vertical Villages Tenants Association, Salix Homes and Contour Homes (two of the largest providers of social housing in Salford), Salford City Council and Salford City Police – to explore some of the challenges facing local residents and their future wants and needs.

Conversations have clearly highlighted issues around health, unemployment, crime and poverty, and thus a need was revealed for positive large-scale projects that not only offer individuals new opportunities and choices but also provide a sense of collective achievement and pride. There was also a community demand and need across Salford for local climate change adaptation schemes and food growing projects.

In response to this, The Biospheric Foundation started work on converting a disused, three-storey mill in the heart of Blackfriars into an action-led research and design space, dedicated to providing practical solutions to urban poverty. So far we have retrofitted two indoor floors into a meeting and events space piloting small-scale food interventions and practical space for Biospheric Urban Activities.

Development of this vision took a major step forward 16 months ago when The Biospheric Foundation partnered with The Manchester International Festival (MIF) to embark on a radical experiment in urban ‘vertical’ farming, called The Biospheric Project. The project introduced innovative approaches to indoor and outdoor food growing in a range of spaces within and adjacent to the building.

MIF highlighted their commitment to exploring urgent issues of our time and thanks to its profile is able to shine a spotlight on the issue of how communities produce food in urban environments. We successfully created a model of urban farming which was showcased to the world.

The indoor food systems introduced include aquaponics (where fish and plants are cultivated in a shared environment), hydroponics (systems for growing plants without soil, using mineral nutrient solutions) and other techniques combining food-growing with creative waste-upcycling, e. g. the cultivation of mushrooms in used coffee grounds. A permaculture garden on the roof of the building introduced a new green growing space in an otherwise high-rise urban environment, and a forest garden on adjoining land provides a working example of agroforestry.