In collaboration with Vignes en ville, a project presented by the SAQ and incubated by the Laboratoire sur l’agriculture urbaine (AULAB), Ubisoft Montreal welcomes an urban vineyard containing 40 vines of Marquette, Petite Perle, as well as Frontenac blanc and noir on the Studio’s rooftop terrace. Following in the footsteps of the Palais des Congrès, the Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec, and the SAQ Campus, Ubisoft’s urban vineyard becomes the fourth of its kind in Montreal. This project aims to eventually produce a Montreal wine grown without the use of any pesticides or synthetic substances.
“By collaborating with Vignes en ville and the SAQ, we wanted to do our part and open our rooftop to the experimentation of an urban sustainability project. Over the years, our employees will be able to observe the evolution of a promising idea which we sincerely hope will multiply on the rooftops of Montreal,” declared Cedric Orvoine, VP of Human Resources and Communications at Ubisoft Montreal.
“This vineyard will also allow us to study the environmental impact and social benefits of this new greening practice. It’s important to the SAQ that the savoir-faire of viticulture is shared with citizens to help them discover the vine varieties growing in Quebec while also studying the benefits of integrating crushed glass to the soil or in the form of mulch,” stated Cédéanne Simard, Social Responsibility Director at the SAQ.
“Like the SAQ, Vignes en ville takes recycling and reuse of glass to heart. In the context of this research project, the crushed glass is used as mulch with the goal of contributing to the accelerated growth of the plants in cold climates by reflecting light. To be welcomed by Ubisoft in the context of greening their rooftop while extending our research is very stimulating. We would like to sincerely thank them for having made this collaboration possible,” said Véronique Lemieux, the instigator of the project.
“Like the SAQ, Vignes en ville takes recycling and reuse of glass to heart. In the context of this research project, the crushed glass is used as mulch with the goal of contributing to the accelerated growth of the plants in cold climates by reflecting light. To be welcomed by Ubisoft in the context of greening their rooftop while extending our research is very stimulating. We would like to sincerely thank them for having made this collaboration possible,” said Véronique Lemieux, the instigator of the project.
Urban vineyards help absorb rainwater, contribute to tackling climate change by reducing the temperature of rooftops and create spaces for biodiversity to thrive. With this in mind, the AULAB team will follow the project closely to determine the environmental potential of greening these kinds of rooftops on a larger scale. Vignes en ville’s four “smart” urban vineyards use probes that continuously record weather patterns, as well as other data, to learn more about the challenges and opportunities of urban viticulture. By integrating finely crushed glass to the soil of the potted plants, the project will also recycle 1,200 wine bottles instead of using sand, a non-renewable material present in the majority of cultivation soils.
To learn more about the project: Vignes en ville.
