The development of one of the first urban farming systems has begun in earnest on top of a five-storey building in the city of Vancouver, Canada.

Positioned over a multi-levelled car park complex, the VertiCrop urban farming system is the brainchild of locally-based technology firm Alterrus Systems Inc.

Using a pre-fabricated green house developed in Holland, this impressive 6,000 square-foot structure measures 40 metres long, 16 metres wide and seven metres high.

Urban Farm Construction

Within the structure, VertiCrop has installed hydroponics to grow leafy green vegetables, herbs and other edible greenery.

The unique t-shaped design of the green house means that the building can fit inside the ramps of the pre-existing car park, while a reinforced concrete curb effectively anchors the greenhouse to the floor slab of the old structure.

Gamut Construction Ltd and Neale Engineering Ltd led the project, with plans afoot for further concrete, electrical, mechanical, steel and greenhouse installation work on the site in the pipeline.

For starters, Greenhouse climate and environmental controls will be installed by irrigation and lighting contractors, along with boiler, irrigation and lighting systems.

A carbon dioxide dispenser will also be included, with Gamut Construction president Richard Dornik admitting to the Journal of Commerce that the entire development was a particularly challenging one.

"The project is the first of its kind," he said. "It's an unorthodox project and we had to educate the city every step of the way."

Rooftop Greenhouse

Among the many logistical difficulties was getting the structural components of the greenhouse up six storeys to the roof.

Then there was the installation of the VertiCrop technology, which is designed to be suspended from a conveyor system within the greenhouse, with 24 hydoponic sprays moving on 120 different racks.

The results could be worth the endeavour though, with the new VertiCrop system offering the potential to grow up to 200,000 pounds in green vegetables each year, using no pesticides or herbicides.

VertiCrop is economically sound too, with the system using less water and less land than traditional farming methods, with a 50 per cent reduction in its carbon footprint to boot.

The system would be Alterrus's first commercial urban farm in the US, with a similar system developed in the Devon region of the UK.

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