Town Centre Regeneration
Town Centre Regeneration Idea: The 5p Project People – Place – Planet – Prosperity –…
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PeachyKeen’s main focus has been creating electricity sustainably using human movement. Specialising in the mechanics, electronics and activities required for fitness and playground equipment. However our knowledge base can be extended to generate electricity through other renewable energies including wind, hydro and solar technologies.
We firmly believe that the great British High Street is changing and with change comes exciting possibilities AND opportunities. Your local High Street can be seen as a space for urban farming, a factory, a power station symbiotically linked with retail and residence. Just imagine a High Street capable of producing a large percentage of, and better still, all its electricity requirements. Powering new, clean technologies that would allow people to live, work and play in the centre of town.
Take a moment and imagine your own High Street. Large buildings lying dormant. Now picture these buildings brought back to life through an exciting Town Centre Regeneration project. Contained in these buildings could be the production of renewable energy. The cultivation of edible plants using hydroponics for urban farming. The manufacture of products using evolving technologies based on 3D Printing. The selling of grown produce direct to the public or delivered via electric cargo bikes to local customers.
The once boxed in windows shine again although they seem different as they are solar panels capturing indirect, reflected light. Enter through the main doors, an aroma of fresh salad crops, herbs and soft fruits fills the air. A food hall is packed with nutritious, vibrant produce grown on the premises available throughout the year.
Children have their own play area with all the activities creating and demonstrating renewable energy. Allowing them to recreate and literally plant the seeds of sustainability. Adults also have their own ‘play area,’ a 24 hour gym. All the pieces of equipment with moving parts act as mini generators harvesting electricity.
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.
Plant nurseries can flourish inside these buildings, adapted to suit any size of space. 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, with scalable containers that can be configured to grow a whole variety of tasty greens and juicy fruits. Grown independently of the external seasonal weather conditions, these crops are available year round. We could even use this space to experiment with tropical fruits that create thousands of tonnes of CO2 as they are transported across the globe for us to enjoy. Scottish bananas sound particularly ap-peel-ing, don’t you think?
The loading bay is a hive of activity with eager staff processing online orders. Electric cargo bikes are ready for local delivery. In the corner is an electric van on charge ready to venture further afield.
Up on the flat roof, row upon row of solar panels soak up the suns rays – even on the cloudiest of days! 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 that provide water for the cultivation areas. Funnelled en route through a water turbine system, which in turn creates electricity. The height of a large High Street buildings lends itself beautifully to the required header height.
Our local High Street provides unique opportunities to establish these new ambitious enterprises. Building on proven success, imagine if all the energy generating elements described here could be cleverly incorporated into various buildings along with smaller hydroponic/vertical urban 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 an empty High Street store, 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. Utilising the High Street, we can take advantage of the physical infrastructure, yet preserving its architectural character.
Pooling the resources of initiatives like Developing the Young Workforce through local schools and colleges to nurture people as well as plants. A path of progress from Primary to Further Education is available in the local community. Providing meaningful experience, with real, exciting technologies.
All the seeds to reinvigorate Town Centres 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.
These plans might sound a little ambitious, they are in fact utilising resources that are readily available to us and adhere to the concepts of the Circular Economy. Namely, creating a sustainable environment where there is no waste. Products are designed with re-use, recycling, repurposing in mind and most importantly we work with nature.
In the initial stages of a pilot with the emphasis of Town Centre Regeneration in mind. We were delighted to have the assistance of Business Gateway Fife. Through their Expert Help Scheme we were able to investigate the possibility of utilising one of Kirkcaldy’s large dormant buildings to power an urban farm through renewable energy. This study took in to account Kirkcaldy’s own weather from previous years including sun, wind and rain and how we could use these natural resources to power the building. The outcome of the study proved that it was feasible to grow fresh produce in the town centre through renewable sources available to us.
PeachyKeen have now started Phase One of our demonstrator project. The goal to prove our Town Centre Regeneration concept in our own building. This was made possible through two grant awards from Fife Council and Business Gateway. The purpose of these grants was to improve our energy efficiency. Through Circular Economy Solutions and the expertise of Callum Scott we were able to purchase sixteen 380 watt panels and includes a Hybrid Inverter of up to 8kW as well as two 5.2kW batteries.
The next stage of our Phase One pilot includes the feasability to create a Digital Twin with NMIS. (National Manufacturing Institute Scotland) The Digital Twin is a software modelling tool that will be used in future planning frameworks to ascertain the implementation of The 5p Project in different buildings and locations. Allowing us to take into account different renewable energy sources that are appropriate alongwith suitable urban farming produce.
As you can appreciate there is a lot of “food for thought!” With an overall goal of creating a nationwide blue print to rejuvenate the High Street – if we may, this article will be updated with progress.
“Don’t be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so.” – Belva Davis
Last updated 17th February 2023.
Prize winning illuminating pedals.
The Velo-city conference is the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) annual flagship event. Organized by the ECF together Velo City takes place in a new city each year. Velo-city is the World Cycling Summit serving as a global platform for knowledge exchange and policy transfer. Smart Pedal Pitch is an international competition taking place at Velo-city every year, seeking the latest market-ready cycling innovations to shape the future of urban cycling. It was a unique opportunity for startups and SMEs to participate or even create a crucial turning point in the process towards healthier, sustainable and economically dynamic city life.
During lockdown, PeachyKeen developed the Power Pedal as it was able to be designed from home. The PeachyKeen Power Pedal are illuminating pedals designed with LED lighting to provide cyclists with visibility to other road users.
The pedals will begin illuminating after 10 seconds of pedalling. They do not require mains power charging or batteries – completely maintenance free!
The pedal has been designed and manufactured in the UK; using completely recyclable components. Optimising additive manufacturing technologies. Each order is printed, packaged and shipped right here from our Scottish based workshop.
Within two weeks of entering the competition, PeachyKeen was delighted to have made it to the top 10 finalists and offered a place at the semi finals at the velo city conference in Slovenia.
Customer Success Manager, Joa, was nominated to represent PeachyKeen in Ljubljana on the second day of the conference. The semi finals included brilliant innovations such as a bicycle security device, last mile distribution cargo bikes and buffer pads for bike lanes made from recycled plastic.
To PeachyKeen’s pleasant surprise, the illuminating pedal made it to the top three finalists and was invited to present on the main stage. The final choice came down to a public vote via the conference app. PeachyKeen were honoured to be awarded third place and receive a prize of 3000€.
Want to find out more about the PeachyKeen Power Pedal? Get in touch today!
Dundee Christmas 2021: Bike Powered Christmas Tree
Hundreds of people turned out to each have their turn of powering Dundee’s Christmas Tree using our Pedal Pods. The tree looked very impressive and was the first time the city has used an existing ‘living’ Christmas tree. The main tree used for the season is in the city’s Steeple Church gardens. This tree was chosen to replace cutting down and importing a tree, meaning it will thrive for years to come!
There were four energy generating bikes used for this event, suitable for ages 2 to 102! Each bike powered their own section of the tree with more than 6,200 LED lights. Even in the daylight there was a small queue of smiling faces waiting in line to try it out. The lights were happily twinkling away in broad daylight but really lit up the city as night fell over the weekend!
We were honoured to be part of the bike powered Christmas tree project promoting sustainability during the festive season. The message for the weekend also promoted cycling and for a more thoughtful approach to energy consumption over the Christmas period.
Want to find out more about Human Powered Events? Get in touch today!
Microhydropower can be one of the most simple and consistent forms or renewable energy on your property. Microhydropower also called hydroelectricity or hydro systems has the potential to produce enough electricity to power most electrical appliances and lighting in a home or small business.
The PeachyKeen solution to incorporating Hydropower systems into our everyday lives is through our buildings guttering or water drainage systems. The downward flow of water into a turbine can drive a generator to produce electricity. The greater the height and the more water there is flowing through the turbine, the more electricity will be generated. This would be ideally suited to a country with a lot of rainfall such as Scotland!
However rainfall is not always guaranteed (even in Scotland!) optimal sources of water to power buildings would be bodies of water such as rivers or streams (remember the water powered textile mills). If we may divert you to the video at the foot of this webpage, we can demonstrate our own test set up in PeachyKeen HQ – for the purpose of the video we diverted the water inside the building though it would work equally as efficiently outside.
An optional extra to this solution is utilising the rainwater after it has enabled the generation of electricity, to hydrate an Urban Farming, hydroponics system. Read more about Urban Farming here
Urban Farming in Town Centres: Food for thought… literally!
PeachyKeen’s main focus has been creating electricity sustainably using human movement. Specialising in the mechanics, electronics and activities required for fitness and playground equipment. However our knowledge base can be extended to generate electricity through other renewable energies including wind, hydro and solar technologies.
We firmly believe that the great British High Street is changing and with change comes exciting possibilities AND opportunities. Your local High Street can be seen as a space for urban farming, a factory, a power station symbiotically linked with retail and residence. 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.
Take a moment and imagine your own High Street. Large buildings lying dormant. Now picture these buildings brought back to life. Contained in these buildings could be the production of renewable energy. The cultivation of edible plants using hydroponics for urban farming. The manufacture of products using evolving technologies based on 3D Printing. The selling of grown produce direct to the public or delivered via electric cargo bikes to local customers.
The once boxed in windows shine again although they seem different as they are solar panels capturing indirect, reflected light. Enter through the main doors, an aroma of fresh salad crops, herbs and soft fruits fills the air. A food hall is packed with nutritious, vibrant produce grown on the premises available throughout the year.
Children have their own play area with all the activities creating and demonstrating renewable energy, allowing them to recreate and literally plant the seeds of sustainability. Adults also have their own ‘play area,’ a 24 hour gym where all the pieces of equipment with moving parts act as mini generators harvesting electricity.
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.
Plant nurseries can flourish inside these buildings, adapted to suit any size of space. 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, with scalable containers that can be configured to grow a whole variety of tasty greens and juicy fruits. Grown independently of the external seasonal weather conditions, these crops are available year round.
The loading bay is a hive of activity with eager staff processing online orders. Electric cargo bikes are ready for local delivery. In the corner is an electric van on charge ready to venture further afield.
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 that provide water for the cultivation areas. Funnelled en route through a water turbine system, which in turn creates electricity. The height of a building lends itself beautifully to the required header height.
Our local High Street provides unique opportunities to establish these new ambitious enterprises. Building on proven success, imagine if all the energy generating elements described here could be cleverly incorporated into various buildings along with smaller hydroponic/vertical urban 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 an empty High Street store, 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. Utilising the High Street, we can take advantage of the physical infrastructure, yet preserving its architectural character.
Pooling the resources of initiatives like Developing the Young Workforce through local schools and colleges 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 Town Centres 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.
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
PeachyKeen’s Motivational Speaker for hire throughout Scotland and beyond!
Is your working environment an effective, stimulating place to be?
Does it have a happy ethos where everyone is valued?
Do colleagues reach their full potential and look forward to coming to work?
If so, Fantastic and thank you for giving us your attention.
No? Not sure?
Does one day run into the next until the weekend arrives or does each day really mean something with a sense of achievement being felt by everyone?
Is work considered a life enhancing place where everyone has pride in their work or is there a feeling of being overwhelmed with new initiatives and constant change?
We owe it to ourselves, our colleagues, our families, our friends – our customers and our organisation to be the best we can be – life is simply not long enough!
The aim of PeachyKeen is to enhance the workplace by applying the following steps:
“People may not remember what you said, they may not remember what you did, but your staff will always remember how you made them feel.”
Our positive attitude extends to our Social Media channels too! Follow our PeachyKeen weekly Monday Motivational posts follow on Facebook Here.
If you’re looking for a motivational speaker for hire Get in touch to find out more!
PeachyKeen is proud to have partnered with Skills Development Scotland which, aims to develop the young workforce through experiential learning. Our 2018 Foundation Apprentice was Craig who designed the unique PeachyKeen Human Powered Hydroponic Machine.
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants in water based nutrient rich solution. The basis of the hydroponics system is to provide optimum conditions for plants to grow.
The wonderful Craig had to understand the principle of hydroponics as well as the elements required to design a system that used Human Generated energy as its power source. Fiona Lamotte from Guardswell Farm, who is a specialist in the field of hydroponics was able to give Craig invaluable expertise and knowledge which contributed to the success of the project.
After researching the premise, the first stage of this strategy was calculating lighting and optimum light wavelength. Additionally, an appreciation of plumbing for the movement of water through the system. Finally, the skills to design and manufacture the various electronic components required for a functioning system. At each stage of the project, Craig worked with the team at PeachyKeen to ensure the design was costed, sourced and tested using proof of concepts. This would demonstrate that the initial theory would work in practise.
This resulted in the final construction of the PeachyKeen Human Powered Hydroponic Machine. The complete project life-cycle from the initial idea through to a fully functioning system was carefully followed. Encompassing all the necessary intellectual and technical skills required for its success.
We aim to plant our first Human Powered crops in January 2019. The carefully selected ‘test’ crops will consist of micro radish leaf, pea shoots, rocket and sunflower seeds.
Contact us if you would like to learn more about Human Energy Harvesting Systems and Hydroponics or how you could partner with PeachyKeen.
"PeachyKeen have been fantastic partners to work with from design to build, and provided an interactive and engaging customer focused activity across the 4 days of the Royal Highland Show." Sara Smith, RHET Learning and Development Co-ordinator
“What a fantastic organisation and great STEM learning whilst having a fun experience for school pupils. Thanks PeachyKeen for your support at our STEM Olympics.” Colin Miller, Head of Service: External Engagement
“I can’t recommend PeachyKeen highly enough. They are a polished act who bring energy and oomph to any event and have the most amazing equipment . They look good, are well prepared, and everything about their service is top quality from the products and materials used and the way the work with people and the customers.” Laura Carswell - Neilston Development Trust
"We have had the privilege of working at education related events where we combine engaging activities, using a range of PeachyKeen resources."
"It’s always a pleasure to work with Andrew and the team from PeachyKeen. Interesting, engaging and fun activities delivered with enthusiasm and professionalism." Amy Russell, Events Officer
"We look forward to welcoming the PeachyKeen team to our events. People of all ages and abilities love the hand-on activities." Scottish Borders Council
"We were delighted to have PeachyKeen on board at the first ASGF Festival of Ideas Adam’s Family Fun Day in March. They were very professional and kept our visitors engaged with their amazing eco-friendly equipment. It was great to see the young ones enjoying themselves. We would definitely recommend them for your event." Karen Taylor, Partnerships & Creative Development Manager
“For our Earth Hour event, PeachyKeen were very well equipped to run a fantastic bicycle-powered light display, capturing the attention of just over one hundred participants. It was a fun and interactive exhibition, and we look forward to welcoming them back in future!” Lara Fahey, Transition University of St Andrews
“We would like to say a big thank you to the PeachyKeen team who visited us twice in a week. As part of our Wellbeing agenda, we had the Scalextrix Bikes to both of our sites in Bellshill and have to say a great time was had by all. It didn’t matter about fitness level or skills – this was an activity everyone could get involved in and the competition was fierce ! The team were really organised, friendly and encouraged our employees to give it a go and we will certainly be calling on them again for fun, different activities we can offer in the workplace. Thank you again from the Muller Dairy and Blowmoulding sites. “
"My company booked the PeachyKeen smoothie bikes for a Wellbeing event we were hosting in May. From start to finish, Joa was extremely friendly and helpful, responding quickly to any queries I had as well as providing helpful information about the bikes which we used to promote on our internal channels. The event itself was a great success – my colleagues absolutely loved the bikes, and the smoothies were delicious (we had lots of people going back for seconds, and thirds!). We also had some special requests on the day, and PeachyKeen were extremely accommodating and nothing was a hassle for them. Overall, a really great experience and would 100% recommend if you are looking for a fun (and healthy!) activity for any event you’re hosting." Eve Robertson, Modulr Finance
Just wanted to thank you and your Team for your efforts on behalf of CIRCLE for the Scottish Recovery Consortium Recovery Walk Scotland - Paisley 2022. The smoothie bike activity was so welcomed by those on attendance and there were so many smiles on people's faces it brought further joy and happiness to such a fantastic event. I will strongly be recommending PeachyKeen to our Service Partners. Not only the activity, but your staff team were so welcoming and really got involved in supporting the day and engaging with everyone who took part in the activity: amazing!!! Thank you so much from CIRCLE. Iain Risk, Circle
We booked Joa for our Bike Fun Day event and loved how colourful the Peachykeen stand was which helped attract people to have a go at the smoothie bike. The smoothies are actually delicious, and Joa provided all of the ingredients so that we did not have to source those. It's a great fun activity for all ages, and the team were so busy all day we completely used up all of the smoothie supplies! We will definitely book you again. Gemma Simpson, Auchterarder Community Sports & Recreation Bike Fun Day
Town Centre Regeneration Idea: The 5p Project People – Place – Planet – Prosperity –…
Prize winning illuminating pedals. Velo City The Velo-city conference is the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF)…
Dundee Christmas 2021: Bike Powered Christmas Tree Hundreds of people turned out to each have…
PeachyKeen Ltd., 51 Kirk Wynd, Kirkcaldy, Fife, KY1 1EH Scotland GB
Email: info@peachykeen.co.uk | Call: 01592 262500