Leadenhall Urban Farm

The City of London

This competition winning scheme for the site in Leadenhall, in the heart of London, addresses three key issues: public open space, views into the site from neighbouring buildings, and radically enhancing the Leadenhall street frontage. This is realised through the creation of a city farm with public access that has a seasonal planting strategy designed using careful sunlight analysis, and a series of ‘outlets’ that sit in the hoarding on Leadenhall Street selling produce grown on site, and a soup kitchen on the gantry serving food prepared with ingredients from the site. We believe that in addition to the value added to the site for minimum outlay, there is a joy in reconnecting with the earth that would once have been on the site. We have created a place where city workers can smell/sniff/taste/touch/buy produce grown on site, walk through flower beds, picnic on wildflower banks, and watch the changing seasons.