Civic Conversation: An ambitious enterprise to power Kirkcaldy

Andrew Bowie of Peachy Keen joins the Fife Free Press’ Civic Conversatipn, and outlines a radical, and exciting new use for a landmark building left empty in High Street

The whole raison d’état for PeachyKeen was inspired by the need for energy.

Our focus has been creating electricity sustainably using human movement, specialising in the mechanics, electronics and activities required for fitness and playground equipment.

The opportunity to contribute to the Fife Free Press Civic Conversation draws upon PeachyKeen’s experiences with a variety of innovative technologies and processes. If I may, I would like to paint a picture of the incorporation of these ideas into the physical fabric of the High Street.

Just imagine a High Street capable of producing a large percentage of, and better still, all its electricity requirements to power new, clean technologies that would allow people to live, work and play in the centre of town.

In essence the High Street can be seen as a farm, a factory, a power station symbiotically linked with retail and residence.

If you would be so kind let me take you on an imaginative tour of the former Marks & Spencer’s building situated on Kirkcaldy High Street – a landmark I am very familiar with having had the privilege of working there, giving me the financial security to setup PeachyKeen.

The former M&S building has four floors with an expansive flat roof.

Contained in this building could be the production of renewable energy, the cultivation of edible plants using Hydroponics, the manufacture of products using evolving technologies based on 3D Printing, selling of grown produce direct to the public or delivered via electric cargo bikes to local customers.

Standing outside looking up at the famous clock, hopefully to tick again soon, the windows seem different as they are solar panels capturing indirect, reflected light.

Entering the main doors, an aroma of fresh salad crops, herbs and soft fruits fills the air and the food hall once more is packed with nutritious, vibrant produce grown on the premises.

Children have their own play area in what was ladies’ wear, with all the activities creating and demonstrating renewable energy, allowing them to recreate and literally plant the seeds of sustainability.

Towards the back, up the steps to men’swear is a boutique gym where all the pieces of equipment with moving parts act as mini generators harvesting electricity.

Walk downstairs via the staff entrance and the former loading bay is a hive of activity with eager staff processing online orders onto electric cargo bikes ready for local delivery.

In the corner is an electric van on charge ready to venture further afield.

Where, you may ask, is all this edible greenery coming from and what systems are in place to nurture and power such an enterprise?

Similar in principle to the redundant tube tunnels in London or carpark roofs in Singapore, urban farming is taking place using hydroponic and vertical growing technologies.

Where the process of farming plants uses water, a growing medium and a nutrient solution rather than soil – nutrients, light, water, temperature and other environmental factors are controlled, allowing maximum yields in limited space.

To explain further, the first floor former stock area and offices is now a plant nursery area filled with aluminium shelves illuminated with intensely bright red and blue LED light.

If you listen carefully you can hear the soft trickle of water that is gravity fed and re-circulated on a programmable schedule.

The cultivation areas are modular and located at the back of the store, with scalable containers that can be configured to grow a whole variety of tasty greens and juicy fruits independent of the external seasonal weather conditions, making these crops available year round.

Up on the flat roof, row upon row of vertical wind turbines, are high enough to capture the wind from any direction and low enough to be hidden from view.

Rainwater is channelled down drainpipes to storage tanks in the former staff canteen that provide water for the cultivation areas and funnelled en route through a water turbine system, which in turn creates electricity. The height of the building lends itself beautifully to the required header height.

Kirkcaldy has a unique opportunity to establish such an ambitious enterprise and, building on proven success, imagine if all the energy generating elements described here could be cleverly incorporated into various High Street buildings along with smaller hydroponic/vertical farming systems.

In the spirit of stronger together and with the emergence of creative technologies there is perhaps another opportunity to establish design and manufacturing businesses in the High Street.

Within the power house that was M&S, equipment could be made on site to establish and maintain this edible, energetic enterprise.Expanding on the concept of self-made components, why stop there?

Utilising techniques based around 3D Printing and traditional skills all sorts of useful items could be made “just in time” to order on the High Street taking advantage of the physical infrastructure, yet preserving its architectural character.

Pooling the resources of initiatives like Developing the Young Workforce through local schools and Fife College to nurture people as well as plants, a path of progress from Primary to Further Education is available in the local community to provide meaningful experience, with real, exciting technologies.

All the seeds to reinvigorate the Town Centre are readily available, especially in our minds, to grow a sustainable, productive High Street that encapsulates the important areas of our work and play life.

This strengthens our community and benefits everyone with a viable response to climate change.

A fantastic thought to end with – just imagine the export of our Langtoun wares via Hybrid Electric Sailing Ships to the big wide world!

Well: “Don’t be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so” – Belva Davis