HSL and Urban Farming Partners team up to develop urban farm in Singapore
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Infrastructure construction company HSL and the Urban Farming Partners consortium formally marked their partnership at the Singapore International Water Week. The two partners will develop an urban farm in Singapore. The farm will be located inside the premises of HSL at the waterfront at Penjuru Road, opposite Jurong Island. Urban Farming Partners is a consortium with expertise in various aspects of indoor growing concepts, from growing and logistics to marketing and urban planning. The aim of the cooperation is to produce vegetables for the local Singapore market in a sustainable manner.
About 10% of the food that is consumed in Singapore is produced locally. The Singapore Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) supports and encourages initiatives that contribute to a higher level of self-sufficiency in greens. With the industry of indoor farming still in its infancy, Urban Farming Partners chooses to engineer the farm backwards, starting with the demand and making sure the technologies applied are in line with local consumer trends. Moreover, solutions from the circular economy concepts will be applied, such as the use of solar energy, rain water and by-products of neighbouring companies, like CO2 and residual cooling.
Allied Water’s SALutions Collab joined the Urban Farming Partners consortium last April, bringing in expertise on rain-water harvesting, water reuse and aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) to balance water demand and supply. These solutions will be fundamental in tackling irrigation water supply challenges for the urban farm at Penjuru Road.
Contract signing by Mr Lim Choo Leng (chairman HSL) and Mr Wouter Vos (chairman Urban Farming Partners), under the watchful eye of Ms Margriet Vonno, Netherlands ambassador in Singapore, and Mr Ahmed Aboutaleb, mayor of Rotterdam.
