Imagine working for a company where you grow your own lunch, brew your own beer, have a meeting in a Geodome and finish off the day with a pizza slice from a giant disco ball pizza oven in the outdoor kitchen...
This week on RTÉ Radio 1, CountryWide's Brenda Donohue visits Voxpro's technology campus in Cork and this is what she found out...
Many studies over the years point to the fact that gardening and the art of gardening is good for the body and soul. It makes us happier, healthier and less stressed and one workplace place which has taken this on board is a multinational tech company called VoxPro.
On this week’s Countrywide, I visit Voxpro and find out about their futuristic garden and how it contributes to the welfare of its young employees.
When I arrived, the first thing that struck me was this amazing garden in full bloom with brilliantly coloured flowers mixed with vegetables, all growing amidst space like dome structures in the middle of a technology park.
The project at VoxPro came about as a result of the company’s 'Innovation Initiative’, where they were calling on employees to submit ideas to make the work environment a better place.
Green fingered, David Humbler, came up with the garden idea and with a lot of hard work and buy in from the employers, they have created an inspiring garden.
Horticulturist, Kitty Scully has been brought on board to ‘grow ‘ this project which currently includes a geodome where employees grow organic, heat loving food crops including aubergine, peppers, tomatoes as well as flowers. It is in the dome that the hopes for the company beer grow tall.
They even have an area designed as an outdoor theatre and plans are to have an onsite micro – supermarket, beehives and lots more.
This project has been so successful that Voxpro hopes to use it as a template for similar gardens in its other offices in Dublin, California and Georgia.
This space-like garden is certainly one of the more unusual, but pleasant places I’ve taken my morning coffee break.
- Written by Brenda Donohue
