Over 2,000 cans of non-perishable food were used and will be donated to FareShare when deconstructed

LONDON, 15 November 2013 – Employees at BNY Mellon, in partnership with Canstruction®, recently built a giant fish out of canned food at the firm’s Queen Victoria Street office in London. Staff harnessed their creative skills to build the 9-foot high x 5-foot wide x 12-foot long sculpture to raise awareness of issues related to food sustainability in the UK.

The design, by London-based architects, Squire and Partners, was created to highlight the issues with sustainability in the fishing industry in the UK and around the world. According to data The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 87%* of the world's fisheries are either fully exploited, over exploited, depleted, or recovering from depletion. Consumer demand for seafood is on the rise, and our seas are increasingly unable to cope with these pressures.

The sculpture comprises over 2,000 cans of non-perishable food and 200 packets of crisps which, once the display has been deconstructed, will be donated to FareShare. FareShare is a national charity fighting hunger and food waste in the UK. It does this by redistributing surplus food that would otherwise go to waste to more than 1,000 charities, including homeless shelters, women’s refuge centers and children’s breakfast clubs.

The build took eight hours and involved over 30 employees. A short film of the sculpture being built from start to finish, using time-lapse photography and sped up to just 30 seconds, can be viewed via this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgRfgItD2h0&feature=share&list=PLikZCvFm5ZaQcA-dgiWOaNiN68oCmM2cy

“Fish is the means of subsistence for billions of people around the world. For centuries, our oceans have been considered a limitless source of food. This is simply not the case,” stated Michael Cole-Fontayn, EMEA Chairman of BNY Mellon. “As the old proverb goes; give a man a fish, and you have fed him once. Teach him how to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime. It’s up to all of us to consider the sustainability of our food sources. Our goal is to encourage people to think responsibly about their food choices so that future generations can enjoy the wealth of choice that we have.”

BNY Mellon employees have partnered with Canstruction® to build giant structures out of canned food in five of its largest cities around the world. The structures, which together will be built from more than 18,000 cans of food, were chosen to spotlight different issues related to food insecurity – fish (London), rice bowl (Hong Kong), and in the United States, an apple (Boston), apple tree (New York) and a globe (Pittsburgh). All the food items used to build them will be donated to local charities. BNY Mellon expects its structures to contribute more than 14,000 pounds of food and help its community partners provide more than 10,000 meals to people who are hungry.

The Canstruction® activities form part of a series of events over the last month in support of World Food Day (16th October). They are part of BNY Mellon’s Community Partnership program, where employees are encouraged to volunteer with a wide range of organizations and receive company matching contributions and time off for their efforts. BNY Mellon’s philanthropic focus is on improving local communities by partnering with organizations that provide for basic needs. Last year, BNY Mellon and its employees contributed more than $1.2 million, the equivalent of 6 million meals, to food related charities around the world.

Canstruction® is a non-profit organization in which teams of architects, engineers, construction firms and students compete to create giant structures made entirely out of canned food. After the event all food is donated to local charities. Canstruction was founded in 1992 by the Society for Design Administrators and has since raised over 21 million pounds of food for local communities around the world. Canstruction is one of the largest internationally recognized food drives of its kind. To learn more about Canstruction, visit www.canstruction.org.

*(SOFIA report 2012) - http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i2727e/i2727e.pdf)

BNY Mellon is a global investments company dedicated to helping its clients manage and service their financial assets throughout the investment lifecycle. Whether providing financial services for institutions, corporations or individual investors, BNY Mellon delivers informed investment management and investment services in 35 countries and more than 100 markets. As of September 30, 2013, BNY Mellon had $27.4 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, and $1.5 trillion in assets under management. BNY Mellon can act as a single point of contact for clients looking to create, trade, hold, manage, service, distribute or restructure investments. BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK). Additional information is available on www.bnymellon.com, or follow us on Twitter @BNYMellon.

FareShare is a unique charity fighting hunger and its underlying causes by redistributing surplus food to hundreds of local charities across the UK. By ensuring good food is not wasted, we turn an environmental problem into a solution, helping to feed thousands of vulnerable people every day. FareShare has been operating since 2004 as an independent charity and today has 17 locations across the UK that provide to more than 1,000 local charities. Last year we redistributed 4,200 tonnes of food, enough to feed 50,400 people every day, saving each charity an average of £13,000 a year and food businesses 1,850 tonnes of CO2 emissions. By creating a value chain directly between the food industry and people in need, we are unique in fighting hunger by tackling food waste. Find out more at www.fareshare.org.uk

Squire and Partners is an award-winning architectural practice who have been designing and executing buildings on key sites in London and internationally for over 35 years. The practice’s approach to design assumes that every site has its own history, character and needs. Derived from a sense of place, buildings respond to underlying themes of materiality, scale and proportion which are common to their locations, whilst revealing a commitment to contemporary design and detailing. Key projects include the Reiss Headquarters, One Tower Bridge, masterplans for Chelsea Barracks and the Shell Centre, and the Knightsbridge Apartments.