The underground fridge that keeps food cool – even in a heatwave

Perched atop a hill in north London, an unusual fridge nestles within a flowerbed, partially embedded in the earth. From afar, it might seem like discarded rubbish, yet this installation serves an innovative purpose: it cools food using barely any electricity, unlike traditional refrigerators that rely heavily on mains power.

Upon closer inspection, the fridge’s imposing size becomes apparent, with a door nearly as tall as an adult and about half as wide. Opening it reveals a small, circular chamber beneath the ground where shelves line the walls. The coolness inside is striking, especially on a hot summer day. Stored here are various foods kept safe from heat and light. A solar-powered ventilation system circulates cooler air at night, helping to expel warmer air collected during the day and maintain a steady temperature.

Known as the Ground Fridge, this invention draws inspiration from historical methods of food preservation. Before the advent of electric refrigeration, people relied on thick-walled storage spaces or earth cellars, leveraging the stable, lower temperatures underground. Similarly, grand residences employed ice houses, where large ice blocks would slowly melt through the warmer months, allowing chilled drinks to be served. Developed by Dutch inventor Floris Schoonderbeek, this modern version has so far been installed mainly in Europe; the first UK example appears within a distinctly creative urban gardening project.

This project is OmVed Gardens, a two-acre space of cascading terraces near Highgate Hill, flourishing with wildlife and a vast assortment of vegetables and herbs cultivated through permaculture. The gardens occupy the site of a former garden centre, featuring environmentally conscious structures like an exhibition area, a kitchen, and a seed library. Social entrepreneur Karen Leason runs OmVed as a community interest company with a mission to reconnect urban dwellers with food and nature. The site hosts workshops, performances, school visits, and attracts artists, horticulturists, and chefs, including fermentation expert Josefine Marchandise, who leads a kitchen focused on regenerative and creative cooking. Marchandise praises the Ground Fridge for maintaining temperatures between 8 and 15 degrees Celsius during heatwaves, noting its usefulness for storing both fresh produce and preserved items. She appreciates its practicality and aesthetic appeal, adding that retrieving food from the outdoor fridge is a welcome change from staying indoors.

While the Ground Fridge involves a significant initial investment—approximately £12,000 plus VAT—it offers the storage capacity of about a dozen typical family fridges while consuming almost no mains electricity, which means minimal running costs. As this technology gains wider adoption, costs could decrease due to economies of scale. Within the broader context of OmVed’s sustainability experiments, the fridge also sparks curiosity and conversation. Visitors, including schoolchildren, often express amazement and question why such a system isn’t more widespread, highlighting its unique potential to inspire change in how we keep food cool

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