Walking through the Bristol-based piece of land, bedecked with a green shipping container and little bee-keeping area in the corner, it's powerful to see a green business truly come to life.
Grow Bristol is an urban farming enterprise set up to develop a way of providing sustainable food for a city from within a city. The project has just received permission to use a piece of land within the city for two years as a place to host its green project for the public.
The startup took part in The Pitch 2014 and got picked as one of the 100 contestants taken to the Boot Camps.
Founder Dermot O'Regan, who has just given up his job to work full time on the project met us at the site near Temple Meads train station in Bristol to talk about his vision.
You can see the idea is really taking root from the animation on his face as he talks us through the artist's impression of what the site will look like in a few months' time; this is an entrepreneur with real passion for what he does.
'Sometimes you've just got to go for it even if just to test if you're a bit crazy. But we went with it, and people responded positively so we just went from there,' he says.
After buying their first shipping container, they began to grow food such as herbs and baby-leaf salad, which are richer in nutrients than those that have being transported from further away. In addition they grow fish, Tilapia, which provide nutrients for the water that is cleaned by the plants.
Tilapia are common around the world as a farmed fish and are known as the cod of Asia. However, there's a market for the fish in the UK as it's hard to get fresh, in addition to being a diverse food source for those who haven't heard of it yet.
So far, Grow Bristol has been showcasing its closed-loop growing systems to the public in the Mini Grow Box demonstration system as part of the Urban Food Growing Trail, a Green Capital-funded project led by Incredible Edible Bristol. The system is currently in situ at Windmill Hill City Farm in Bristol.
And during the last year it has been securing more funds, support and partners towards moving from a pilot project to the next stage of development as a business and social enterprise.
'The focus of the site will be our Grow Box, a recycled shipping container repurposed as an optimised food production system growing fresh and sustainable produce (salad leaves, herbs and fish) for the local market,' says O'Regan.
Grow Bristol's stint in The Pitch 2014 helped the business improve its pitching technique and start its social media and marketing following, adds O'Regan, who adds the bootcamp masterclasses were particularly helpful.
One volunteer is a film student who is going to document the journey. She will make two films, which O' Regan hopes will be useful when it comes to potentially applying for crowdfunding later on.
Aside from this, O'Regan has another few volunteers doing some work for the project. Some have come to him organically, after hearing about what Grow Bristol does, and others he has found through the Green Bristol website.
Bristol was the Green Capital 2015 and as such has a series of initiatives, grants and support for green businesses around the city. Grow Bristol is part funded by Green Capital.
The site is in development at the moment. The artist's impression (done by a local architect's firm) shows a vibrant, lively space where the public come to buy fresh produce and look around.
The business is aiming to be as green as possible and wants to supply the city with food using only things that come from the city, right down to electricity.
'Our wider philosophical concept is to close the in loop food production at a city scale. The idea is that we grow food that is feeding people in the city, but everything we need to do that comes from the city somehow.
'So the energy comes from the city, either we capture it through the sun or we tap into other forms of energy perhaps being wasted,' says O'Regan.
In the future, Green Bristol may go down the avenue of either finding an investor, debt finance or it has considered crowdfunding.
Being a social enterprise, O'Regan says it not only needs to look at whether it's financially viable, but what problem it solves.
They have done everything from setting up to finding a site, so they will also do the funding themselves.
It wants to scale operations over the next few years, perhaps rising to growing more products in a warehouse.
He was shortlisted as one of the 100 businesses who got to come to bootcamps in London and Manchester, where he attended marketing, social media, finance and pitching masterclasses.
O'Regan said he started his social media activity after attending the seminars, and took a lot away from the pitching sessions with expert Annette Kramer.
'You would pay a lot of money for a session with someone like that, I learned to cut away the terminology and technicalities, and focus on what people want to know when speaking to them about the business ie. it's fresh, it's green, it's sustainable, and not talking about aquaponics all day,' he said.
This article first appeared on ThePitch.uk.
Grow Bristol is an urban farming enterprise set up to develop a way of providing sustainable food for a city from within a city. The project has just received permission to use a piece of land within the city for two years as a place to host its green project for the public.
The startup took part in The Pitch 2014 and got picked as one of the 100 contestants taken to the Boot Camps.
Founder Dermot O'Regan, who has just given up his job to work full time on the project met us at the site near Temple Meads train station in Bristol to talk about his vision.
You can see the idea is really taking root from the animation on his face as he talks us through the artist's impression of what the site will look like in a few months' time; this is an entrepreneur with real passion for what he does.
'Sometimes you've just got to go for it even if just to test if you're a bit crazy. But we went with it, and people responded positively so we just went from there,' he says.
The team
O'Regan, who formerly worked as an advisor on agriculture and waste for the Environmental Agency and has an academic background in environmental studies, and his co founder Peter Whiting, a gardener, came up with the business idea a few years ago.After buying their first shipping container, they began to grow food such as herbs and baby-leaf salad, which are richer in nutrients than those that have being transported from further away. In addition they grow fish, Tilapia, which provide nutrients for the water that is cleaned by the plants.
Tilapia are common around the world as a farmed fish and are known as the cod of Asia. However, there's a market for the fish in the UK as it's hard to get fresh, in addition to being a diverse food source for those who haven't heard of it yet.
So far, Grow Bristol has been showcasing its closed-loop growing systems to the public in the Mini Grow Box demonstration system as part of the Urban Food Growing Trail, a Green Capital-funded project led by Incredible Edible Bristol. The system is currently in situ at Windmill Hill City Farm in Bristol.
And during the last year it has been securing more funds, support and partners towards moving from a pilot project to the next stage of development as a business and social enterprise.
The site
It recently received planning permission to use a disused industrial site near Temple Meads, which it will turn into a productive urban farm and space for training and public engagement.'The focus of the site will be our Grow Box, a recycled shipping container repurposed as an optimised food production system growing fresh and sustainable produce (salad leaves, herbs and fish) for the local market,' says O'Regan.
Grow Bristol's stint in The Pitch 2014 helped the business improve its pitching technique and start its social media and marketing following, adds O'Regan, who adds the bootcamp masterclasses were particularly helpful.
Volunteers
So far it's just Pete and Dermot running the business, but as the site needs a lot of work it's relying on volunteers to help it clear the place up.One volunteer is a film student who is going to document the journey. She will make two films, which O' Regan hopes will be useful when it comes to potentially applying for crowdfunding later on.
Aside from this, O'Regan has another few volunteers doing some work for the project. Some have come to him organically, after hearing about what Grow Bristol does, and others he has found through the Green Bristol website.
Bristol was the Green Capital 2015 and as such has a series of initiatives, grants and support for green businesses around the city. Grow Bristol is part funded by Green Capital.
The site is in development at the moment. The artist's impression (done by a local architect's firm) shows a vibrant, lively space where the public come to buy fresh produce and look around.
The business is aiming to be as green as possible and wants to supply the city with food using only things that come from the city, right down to electricity.
'Our wider philosophical concept is to close the in loop food production at a city scale. The idea is that we grow food that is feeding people in the city, but everything we need to do that comes from the city somehow.
'So the energy comes from the city, either we capture it through the sun or we tap into other forms of energy perhaps being wasted,' says O'Regan.
Financially sustainable
In addition to making it a lovely space for people to visit, O'Regan wants to provide a place that will make Grow Bristol financially sustainable as soon as possible. So, for example, it will offer school and corporate trips, which it may charge for, training courses in green growing etc.In the future, Green Bristol may go down the avenue of either finding an investor, debt finance or it has considered crowdfunding.
Being a social enterprise, O'Regan says it not only needs to look at whether it's financially viable, but what problem it solves.
They have done everything from setting up to finding a site, so they will also do the funding themselves.
It wants to scale operations over the next few years, perhaps rising to growing more products in a warehouse.
The Pitch 2014
O'Regan entered The Pitch 2014, something he says kicked him into touch to really start thinking about his business.He was shortlisted as one of the 100 businesses who got to come to bootcamps in London and Manchester, where he attended marketing, social media, finance and pitching masterclasses.
O'Regan said he started his social media activity after attending the seminars, and took a lot away from the pitching sessions with expert Annette Kramer.
'You would pay a lot of money for a session with someone like that, I learned to cut away the terminology and technicalities, and focus on what people want to know when speaking to them about the business ie. it's fresh, it's green, it's sustainable, and not talking about aquaponics all day,' he said.
This article first appeared on ThePitch.uk.
