Taste of sustainable living as city residents plant crops at skyscraper rooftop farms

A high-rise office tower in Causeway Bay is an unlikely spot for planting aubergines and taros, but every quarter or so, 110 lucky people get to set foot on 8,000 sq ft of soil on the 38th floor of the 40-storey skyscraper to grow and harvest their own crops.

The open space at Hysan Place, called The Urban Farm, is just one example of several nonrural gardens in one of the world’s densest cities.

“Hysan Place’s rooftop farm is perhaps the only major one in town where you actually plant on ground soil and not in pots,” said Mark Tung, Hysan Development’s general manager of corporate communications.

Any Hongkonger can get a chance to tend to their own crops each season by joining the Lee Gardens Club and entering a lottery, according to Tung. Hysan tenants, employees, students, as well as members of charity groups and elderly centres can also apply.

The farm had been quite a hit, Tung said, with as many as 500 applications every season for just over 50 strips of land. Each strip is shared by two people.

Hysan provides the seeds and water, and the farmers take care of their own plants.

The project had helped Hysan attract a wider set of tenants and stakeholders interested in fulfilling their environmental, social and governance goals, Tung said.

These are some of the ways developers in the city are trying to achieve their sustainability goals, according to property consultancy JLL.

The company in 2014 set up a 1,076 sq ft farm on the rooftop of the Bank of America Tower in Central. In 2019, it teamed up with YKK Hong Kong, a subsidiary of Japanese zip manufacturer YKK Group, to build a 9,000 sq ft rooftop garden at a factory building in Tuen Mun.

“The rooftop farm can showcase to the public what sustainable city living looks like and … [allow] us to appreciate our food a lot more,” said Chung Chi-hung, head of property management at JLL in Hong Kong.

Sino Group, which controls Hong Kong-listed developer Sino Land, currently has 17 farms in the city and one in Singapore, spanning more than 54,000 sq ft and cultivating 380 plant and crop species, a spokesman said.

“These farms serve as platforms to breathe new life into the group’s properties while also enabling people to experience urban farming … In a wider perspective, Farm Together aligns the group’s commitment to sustainability vision 2030,” he said.

Tenants also benefit from the initiative, with the farms providing fresh crops to the Michelinstarred restaurants at the Sino Plaza in Causeway Bay.

“Through shortening the distance, the farm-to-table or farm-to-fork dining concept minimises packaging and food waste, while preserving the taste and nutritional value of the ingredients, making it an environmentally friendly and low-carbon dining choice,” the spokesman said.