City Harvest’s new mezzanine will allow for 60,000 additional meals to be delivered to London community partners
11 Jan 2024, London food redistribution charity City Harvest increases its capacity, allowing the operation to process an additional 60,000 meals a day for the 1 in 4 people who cannot afford food and the 1 million children who face food poverty. As outlined in City Harvest’s June People Report and October Food Report, it makes perfect sense, socially, and to businesses, to address food waste and food poverty through the City Harvest’s sustainable solution to surplus.
WRAP CEO Harriet Lamb and Local MP Rupa Huq opened the new mezzanine floor, a significant expansion of its operations at Acton Park, which was made possible through the generous support of development firm SEGRO. Read Ealing Times coverage of the event here.
Harriet Lamb, CEO at WRAP, said: “It’s heart-warming to watch the growing success story of surplus food redistribution, and we are proud that the WRAP-managed grant scheme supported City Harvest as they rescued surplus produce from farmers and got it to people in need. Overall, a huge 70 million more meals were redistributed in the last year thanks to City Harvest and other organisations in this sector and we celebrate all the people involved backstage to make this possible. It is my absolute pleasure to be part of opening the depot expansion, and I know this will help ensure food reaches those who need it most rather than ending up in the bin.”
City Harvest scales up to meet the demand of an increasingly hungry London
The expansion of City Harvest responds to the escalating issue of food poverty, with a growing number of families struggling to afford basic necessities. The charity collects surplus food from various sources, including restaurants, grocers, manufacturers, wholesalers, hotels, and caterers. It then delivers high-quality, nourishing meals to community food programs supporting the homeless, individuals and families in transition, women in crises, refugees, veterans, children, and the elderly.
As food poverty in the UK reaches unprecedented levels, SEGRO worked closely with its supply chain to co-fund and construct a new 1,800 sq. ft mezzanine floor at City Harvest’s existing Acton Park depot. SEGRO also facilitated the charity’s continued use of the property during the construction, preventing disruptions to its crucial operations.
This project was fully funded, thanks to City’s Harvest’s generous supporters: The Story of Christmas, Permira Foundation and SEGRO.
Additionally, staff from Bowden Moss, Arcadis, Clear Drains (UK) Ltd, and Eversheds Sutherland, supply chain partners for the project, participated pro-bono, helping save significant costs for the charity.
Pictured: SEGRO team with City Harvest Head of Operations, Dean Bernard
Dean Bernard, Head of Operations at City Harvest, said: “By increasing City Harvest’s capacity, we can rescue, store and deliver greater volumes of food. As a direct result of the newly implemented mezzanine area, our total operating capability has increased by 15%. This has created the potential to increase activity by over 60,000 meals, more than doubling City Harvest’s current daily output.”
Rupa Huq, Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton, said: “It’s always inspiring to visit City Harvest at SEGRO’s Acton Park estate, I’m full of admiration for their long-standing work supplying west London and 27 other boroughs with food. However, seeing City Harvest is needed more than ever is bittersweet. The expansion reflects an acute need to increase capacity at this desperate time. I congratulate the whole team on making this happen.”
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City Harvest Mezzanine launch, Acton, January 11th 2024
