Grow your own lunch at work

We’ve all heard of the countless studies pointing to the fact that gardens – and the act of gardening – are good for the body, mind and soul. Gardens make us happier. Healthier. More relaxed. Better able to fight illness and to tolerate pain. More in tune with the flow of the seasons. In short, they are soothing, creative, inspiring places that reassure us of our place in nature.

So why don't more workspaces have them? It's a mystery, especially when I hear of gardens such as that belonging to the Cork-based communications firm, Voxpro. Conceived by green-fingered employee David Humber as a response to the company's request for "Innovation initiatives", it's leafy, living proof of how our workspaces can, with a little imagination and some hard work, be utterly transformed.

Situated on a quarter-acre greenfield site adjacent to Voxpro’s Cork offices and designed by landscaper Paul O’ Flynn, the ‘Voxgro Project’ has its very own biodome (a sort of elaborate polytunnel) where the company’s employees grow organic, heat-loving food crops including squash, tomatoes and hops as well as flowers.

Built by Tim Farley and Jack Thorne of Skibbereen-based ‘Bespoke Structures Ireland’, it glows like a beautiful UFO when its plastic shell is illuminated at night by emerald-green LED lights.

Outside the biodome (affectionately known as the ‘Humberdome’) are yet more food crops and flowers. The latter are cut as desired to decorate staff desks and offices.

But that’s not all. Very soon, the Voxgro garden will contain its own outdoor kitchen and ‘hanging pizza oven’, built by local firm ‘Bakehus’, where people can relax and cook freshly-harvested produce from the garden. In the meantime, the organic produce goes to the canteen to be transformed into tasty soups and salads, or is divvied up amongst staff, while the hops are being used to make a Voxpro beer in collaboration with local brewing company ‘Rising Sons’.

There’s even an area designed as an outdoor theatre and a place to stage outdoor film screenings and plans to have an on-site micro-supermarket, chickens and beehives.

While it wasn’t cheap to build (Voxpro’s head of PR, David McCadden estimates somewhere in the region of €20,000), so successful has this garden proven to be that the company hopes to use it as a template for similar gardens in its other offices in Dublin, California and Georgia. Other Irish companies, please take note . . .