The building at the heart of New Street Square is clad in green walls, bringing space-saving planting to a dense urban area.
Area: 240m2
Location: London
System: BioPanel
Install Year: 2021
Client: Landsec
Number of plants: 14,000
Number of plant species: 15
In 2011 Biotecture were appointed by Landsec to install new living walls on three facades of a building in the centre of New Street Square.
The wall was created using Biotecture’s BioPanel system, which includes a durable, water retentive, growing medium called Grodan. Grodan is favoured by commercial greenhouse growing for its predictability.
The Grodan is nestled within a recycled polypropylene shell. The system includes cement particle backing board, geotextile drainage layer and integrated, remotely monitored irrigation.
Biotecture has been maintaining the living wall at New Street Square since installation to keep it thriving.
Our approach
The planting design takes inspiration from natural camouflage patterns, with bold groupings of key species interwoven within a repeating matrix of background plants.
This creates a sense of depth and texture, ensuring the walls appear rich and vibrant year-round.
We incorporated native species, including London ferns, to support local biodiversity and to reflect the client’s ambition to introduce meaningful greenery into this urban location.
As this project scans three elevations, each with their own micro-climate, we designed the irrigation system to accommodate different zones to ensure each side would get the correct amount of water.
The installation was completed in just three weeks, demonstrating our team’s efficiency and coordination on a busy city-centre site.
Design
Including panel layout, plant design and irrigation design
Horticulture
living walls grown in the nursery for 8-12 plants until fully mature
Installation
Installation of backing board, geotextile drainage layer, irrigation pipework and planted panels
Maintenance
Remote monitoring of the irrigation system, regular visual inspections and horticultural maintenance visits
The results
The living walls provide one of the few visible areas of greenery in the surrounding streetscape. This is particularly valuable during the winter months when other vegetation is sparse.
The living walls enhance the building’s appearance but also contribute to local biodiversity, and help reduce air pollution.
Biotecture have been looking after the wall since its installation and it continues to thrive, fulling the client’s initial brief a ‘lush’ green living walls that looks good all year round.
