University of Bath maintains green targets

As the popularity of attending university grows, so does the need to build accommodation and lecture halls to facilitate them. None more so than the University of Bath, named as Best Campus University 2014 by the Times and Sunday Times newspapers.

Set on the outskirts of Bath at the top of Claverton Down Hill, the Landscape Department is looking at a number of ways to increase the biodiversity and maintain environmental targets as green areas of the campus are being taken over either by buildings being constructed or further car parks being created.

The University has many environmental and biodiversity targets in place they need to meet and the Landscaping Team are always looking for ways to reach and enhance these targets to minimise the impact of new buildings on campus.

One example is an area close to the main concourse of the University where a rockery existed on a sloped embankment.  The rockery was removed to make way for three disabled parking bays that are now in place on a raised level. This left an unsightly, unwelcoming wall in an area that had built up its natural biodiversity over time. The team were keen to return this to the area and to help soften the look of the new structure which surrounds and supports the parking area.

After reading an article about Mobilane the team realised that installing ivy green screens would tick a number of environmental boxes. For a start the screens are easy to maintain requiring pruning just twice a year there is also no irrigation system needed and they provide an instant green result rather than needing to wait for anything to grow up the walls.

Having seen the vast aesthetic improvement with the installation on the new build the landscaping team is now starting to look at other areas of the campus where similar such installations could enhance the environment and rebuild the bio-diversity taken away by building on open green spaces.

Every urban green gain counts

Early this summer, Brent Council unveiled its £90m new headquarters. Boasting a BREEAM rating of ‘outstanding’, the civic centre has a plethora of green features ranging from a clever natural ventilation system to wildlife friendly measures like bat boxes. It also features no less than 200 of our green screens as part of its landscaping scheme.

It’s an ambitious building. Brent has demonstrated what can be achieved when there are substantial upfront resources available. But valuable energy and sustainability gains can be made with far more modest means and, deployed in volume, can have a major beneficial impact on our the environment, our finances and our quality of life.

Across the board, public bodies are increasingly thinking more creatively about ways to create marginal green gains alongside grander greening schemes like, for example, congestion charging. Consider Bristol City Council which is set to save £500,000 per year on its energy bills by simply replacing high-pressure sodium lamps with ceramic metal halide lamps.

Urban greening is one instant and cost-effective method of boosting the sustainability credentials of both existing buildings and new build. For example, housing association Eastland Homes recently commissioned a 44m high living wall as part of the refurbishment of an apartment block in Manchester. It’s the highest living wall we’ve yet created.

Other public bodies such as Enfield Borough Council are using ‘living’ hoardings to help offset the carbon footprint of new developments – and enhance the locality. Enfield has installed a total of 70 sq m of ivy screens around a major regeneration site in Ponders End.

But the full potential of green screens as a tool to benefit the environment is yet to be tapped. Wherever there is a bare wall, there is an opportunity to reduce pollution, boost biodiversity levels and enhance the appearance of a locality.

If we are to truly tackle the big issues of climate change, excessive energy consumption, pollution and carbon emissions then no stone can be left unturned. We do need the grand gestures like Brent’s new civic centre – they act as a beacon of best practice. But we also need the relatively smaller scale measures like the judicious use of greenery and low energy lighting to ensure that every opportunity to create even a marginal gain for the environment is seized.  

Mobilane living wall at the Library of Birmingham

GREEN FACELIFT FOR MANCHESTER APARTMENT BLOCK

A block of flats owned by Eastlands Homes housing association in east Manchester has been given a green facelift with a Mobilane living wall that runs up the full height of the nine-storey building. The installation is one of our tallest installations yet.

The ivy WallPlanters will help to insulate the flats at Worsley Court in Rusholme as well as enhancing the look of the block, which was built in the 60s and is in the process of being refurbished by Eastlands Homes.

Importantly, the ‘green wall’ will also help to reduce pollution levels near the flats; Worsley Court is located on Wilmslow Road, a busy bus corridor with high pollutant levels. In total, nine ivy WallPlanters have been installed by Hedera Screens to cover 100 sq m of the building. The plants will remove the same number of pollutant particulates from the air as four to five average-sized trees, but take up a fraction of the space.

Despite being 44 meters tall, the WallPlanters will be easy to maintain because of a special root zone in the planters that has been designed to give the plants an ideal environment in which to grow. A sophisticated irrigation system supplies water and nutrients as required.

It was installed as part of a project to revamp the apartment block, which forms part of a project of three multi-storey blocks owned by Eastlands Homes.  One of the key priorities in refurbishing this building was to improve the insulation of the flats. The ivy will help to reduce heat loss from the building in winter, while in the summer months it will help to shield the building from the sun’s rays and keep the interior cool.

The finishing touches are added to Mobilane WallPlanters at Worsley Court, Rusholme.

Plight of the bumblebee and other pollinators

The Government’s launch in June of an urgent review of the crisis facing bees and other pollinators in the UK was heartening news. But in its pledge to introduce a national pollinator strategy, it will be vital that the Government thinks creatively and deploys every weapon in its arsenal to protect pollinators and the essential work they do.

Living walls, green screens and other forms of vertical planting can dramatically boost biodiversity levels in restricted spaces and urban areas because they take up just a fraction of the space required by traditional green areas. With the right selection of plant species, living walls can offer a vital source of nectar for pollinating insects, and provide a network of green corridors that better link built-up areas to the surrounding countryside.

Mobilane’s LivingWall for Waitrose in Bracknell, Berkshire (pictured below) is just one example of a vertical planting scheme created with the specific aim of attracting bees and other wildlife into an urban site. The results have been spectacular – an attractive wall with year-round interest that also supports local biodiversity.

Of course, the Government is right to review the use of pesticides and consider how to properly protect pollinators’ usual habitats like wildflower meadows. Existing government initiatives include 12 new Nature Improvement Areas and the promotion and funding of the sowing of nectar flower mixes on farmland. More drastically, in April the European Union suspended the use of three neonicotinoid pesticides linked to serious harm in bees - despite the opposition of the UK ministers. But the scale of the problem is epic.

In the UK, wild honey bees are nearly extinct, solitary bees are declining in more than half the areas studied and some species of bumblebee have been lost altogether. This trend is repeating worldwide, yet bees and other pollinators fertilise three-quarters of global food crops - their monetary value to world agriculture runs into billion of pounds.

Experts are calling on the Government to enhance the food and nesting sites available to pollinators including flies, butterflies, moths, wasps and beetles, as well as bees. Put simply, we need to plant more flowering plants; the UK alone lost a whopping 97% of our flower-rich meadows between 1930 and 1984.

The challenge is huge but wherever there is bare wall surface, we have an opportunity to help create a habitat and food for pollinators. Each and every additional square meter of flowering vertical planting helps to restore the odds in bees’ favour and this benefits us all.

Mobilane's LivingWall for Waitrose in Bracknell, Berkshire

Bumblebee visiting the LivingWall

Green gong for Mobilane

We are really excited to announce that a social housing project featuring a Mobilane green screen has been endorsed by the Green Organisation, a UK based group dedicated to recognising environmental best practice around the world.The Houghton Street project in Widnes, Cheshire for Halton Housing Group scooped a Silver Green Apple Environment Award for its strong green credentials.

Designed by architectural practice Denovo Design, the aim of the residential development was to create green homes with a contemporary edge.  In order to foster a sense of community and to ensure that people could keep an eye on one another’s properties, the various homes were designed so they were inward-looking. This resulted in the rear gardens of two bungalows facing on to a main road. Rather than erect a timber fence or brick wall, which could fall foul of vandalism or graffiti, Denovo Design opted for a Mobilane ‘living’ screen.

Installed by Lovell and measuring 180cm in height and 51m in length, the screen provides a striking first impression to people visiting the new build development. It also sets the tone for a host of environmentally friendly features that have been incorporated into the affordable housing development and helped contribute towards valuable points in the project’s Code for Sustainable Homes Assessment.

As well as it deterring potential graffiti artists, the architects chose the green screen because it provides a natural habitat for wild birds and insects, and is low-maintenance. Another feature of the green screen is that it absorbs harmful microscopic particles that are generated by motor vehicles.

The Green Apple Award was presented to Denovo Design by Doreen Lawrence at a ceremony held at the National Self Build and Renovation Centre in Swindon on 24 July. 

Mobilane launches a 'picture' worth a thousand breaths

We are breathing fresh air indoors and out with the launch of our latest innovation, LivePicture – a framed arrangement of plants that can be hung on either interior or exterior walls. The living ‘picture’ creates a striking, space-saving focal point, as well as offering a natural way to improve air quality.
 

We have created it to meet the increasing demand for inventive ways to use plants, which have long been valued for the health benefits and sense of wellbeing they bring but which, in traditionally planted schemes, can take up valuable space

Each of our LivePictures feature a specially developed nutritionally balanced mineral substrate able to support a wide variety of plant types, depending on available lighting and level of maintenance needed. Measuring 112cm wide (plus 0.5cm for the frame), by 72cm (plus 0.5cm for the frame), the frame is 10cm deep and incorporates a built-in reservoir. The picture, which weighs around 30kg, is attached to the wall with three bolts; it requires no power, no water supply or drainage system, and only needs watering once a month.

For a compact product, the health benefits of our LivePicture are broad. Inadequate air conditioning, ventilation, emissions from computers, printers and paint all contribute towards indoor levels of carbon dioxide and particulate pollutants, while outdoor levels of pollution can be exceptionally high in urban areas.  To counteract this, plants can provide a pleasant humidity; remove carbon dioxide and particulate pollutants. In addition, research has shown that plants can reduce stress, improve mood and, in the case of indoor planting,  increase productivity in the workplace. 

For more information about Mobilane’s products, please visit www.mobilane.co.uk

Greenbuild Expo 2013 – The Air We Breathe

It was, roughly speaking, in the mid 1990s that someone, most likely in the US, thought to put together the words ‘green’ and ‘infrastructure’. Roll on to 2013 and the concept of green infrastructure is still a relatively unfamiliar concept outside the green sector, but it is one that is increasingly set to take centre stage. Though exact definitions of green infrastructure may vary, the consensus is that its key purpose is to produce cleaner air. And that’s a matter that concerns every one of us.

I had the opportunity to speak on the issues, practical challenges and solutions involved with greening our urban environments at this year’s Greenbuild Expo. The challenge is stark. World-wide, more and more people are living in urban environments with limited access to green space, while – at the same time – in many parts of the world pollution levels are increasing. In Europe alone, a 10% increase in urbanisation is expected between 2000 and 2015, while 45 million people already have limited access to green space. There is a huge body of research that links poor air quality to higher asthma rates, lung problems and even stunted lung growth in children.

There’s also a growing body of research evidence to link greenery in the form of trees, plants and other vegetation to a happier, healthier urban living experience. Among their many virtues, plants breathe out oxygen and remove pollutant matter or dust – called PM10s – from the air. In addition, greenery also encourages bio-diversity in cities, offers shade, promotes a feeling of wellbeing and can even help reduce crime levels.

At Mobilane, we are working in partnership with Staffordshire University to explore more fully the range of benefits offered by green infrastructure. It was my pleasure to present at Greenbuild alongside John Dover, Professor of Ecology at the university, who talked about the meaning of green infrastructure and the potential for integrating greenery into urban areas.

A creative approach will certainly be needed to ramp up the green volume in our cities. Trees take up huge amounts of space and require relatively high levels of maintenance. Our living screens and Living Walls offer a vertical way to green up space that produces immediate results both in terms of aesthetics and PM10 reduction. We also have a range of temporary green screens such as Living Hoardings that can boost greenery levels around construction sites – and help offset building projects’ carbon footprint.

If green, living structures are to become an integrated feature of urban landscapes, our notion of how greenery is used will need to become far broader. But the results will be well worth it – cleaner air for everyone.

For more information about Mobilane’s green screens, Living Walls and other products, please visit our website www.mobilane.co.uk

Professor John Dover of Staffordshire University and  me at the Greenbuild Expo in Manchester.