City of Melbourne gives $300,000 to help create ‘skyfarm’ on rooftop carpark near Docklands

An inner Melbourne carpark roof would grow more than five tonnes of produce a year under a planned “skyfarm”, with a cafe, classroom, even an orchard on the cards.

An artist's image of the proposed Melbourne Skyfarm in Siddeley St. Picture: Supplied

Inner city ratepayers will help transform a rooftop carpark in the CBD into a “skyfarm” featuring an orchard, cafe, event spaces and hi-tech classrooms teaching sustainability.

A pop-up farm will use a locally-designed, water-efficient agricultural system with the aim of growing over five tonnes of produce annually.

Located next to the Mission to Seafarers building in Siddeley St, near Docklands, the 2000 sq m Melbourne Skyfarm site overlooks the Yarra River.

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The view towards the city with the Skyfarm in the foreground.

The site as it looks now.

Nature regeneration group Odonata, urban farm company Biofilat and the Sustainable Landscape Company are behind the venture, with support from the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre and $300,000 from the City of Melbourne Urban Forest Fund

Planning applications have been lodged with the city council, with the aim to set up a working farm later this year, and have the whole project finished by late 2020.

It is expected that it will be open to the public, and potentially host thousands of students annually to learn about sustainable living and nature protection.

Skyfarm director Brendan Condon said: “We aim to transform a concrete carpark into an inner city rooftop oasis and thriving urban farm, where Melburnians can enjoy a meal, explore a beautiful landscape, have an engaging educational experience and find out about emerging solutions to environmental challenges.”

Skyfarm director and Odonata chairman Nigel Sharp said the project represented a key shift in “what it means to do business in this day and age”.

“It is a bold and exciting step towards a future where nature in cities is the norm,” he said.

A “test farm” has been operating in Port Melbourne for six months.

City council environment portfolio chair Cr Cathy Oke said Skyfarm had benefited from a grant from the council’s Urban Forest Fund.

“Since the Fund was launched in 2017, we’ve allocated more than $1.2 million in matched funding grants to new greening projects throughout the municipality,” she said.

“The City of Melbourne has a range of programs to green our public spaces, and we also need to work in partnership with private land owners to best improve the wellbeing of our city overall.”

The Skyfarm team has already set up a “test farm” in Port Melbourne that is using the same agricultural techniques that will be used at Siddeley St site.

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@JMasanauskas