Bringing biodiversity back into our cities

The Construction Industry Council has recognised the built environment as a major contributor to the breakdown of biodiversity, and in response targets are being enshrined in law. The wellbeing benefits of interacting with nature are well understood. Developers are increasingly keen to demonstrate they are doing good for their communities and capitalise on data showing that property values, rental rates, and footfall all increase when nature is included in the construction.  Living walls provide a way of making nature a prominent part of any construction site or development scheme, alongside living roofs and other planting. Vertical Meadow has been designed specifically to address this biodiversity crisis and support developer goals.

All of our systems have a plug- and -play approach to enable plants to grow in place from seed. A dry product is delivered to site, connected to an irrigation system, wifi, power and water supplies, and then switched on to start the germination process. Over time the plants begin to grow and flower, and progress is monitored via simple inspection and maintenance apps.

Vertical Meadow is unique in that plants are grown from seed in place. This makes the system more cost-effective, lighter and thinner, sustainable, easier to maintain and less logistically complex than alternatives as there is no need to bring live plants to site. We also use advanced remote and automated monitoring systems to ensure our walls grow as expected.

Living walls work best in the south, east, and west-facing locations with some access to sunlight, however, we’ve also developed seed mixes for north-facing and shaded locations. Plants grow faster in the spring and summer months, but our walls can be installed year-round. We review site drawings, make site visits, and discuss with you to make sure an appropriate wall size and location is selected to meet your expectations.

Our walls are monitored both via the site team as part of their daily site checks, and by us via remote monitoring apps. Aside from topping up nutrients once in a while, maintenance is limited to one or two annual cuts. Vertical Meadow uses native plants and a mix of annual and perennial species, and so just like meadows and parklands, it will brown a little in the winter months, before the celebration of regreening and flowering in spring and summer. 

Growing plants from seed reduces cost, and we are confident that our solutions are the most cost-effective on the market. Vertical Meadow Wrap is similar in cost to high-quality printed hoardings and scaffolding wrap, and can similarly also be printed with branding or other messaging prior to coverage of the plants. We are designing Vertical Meadow Cladding to lower cost and to last longer than other permanent living wall products on the market. 

The site team undertakes the main installation under close supervision from us and carries out simple daily checks using a proprietary inspection app. Site teams tend to find this to be an enjoyable part of their day. We undertake final commissioning, monitor the wall closely via remote inspection tools to ensure it’s growing as planned, and are on hand to provide support and answer questions every step of the way.

You can download the Vertical Meadow Wrap brochure here. Please also feel free to contact us – we’d be delighted to hear from you and talk you through all the details.