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CIRIA BIG Biodiversity Challenge award win

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An award for our Vertical Meadow Wrap at Holbein Gardens

We were delighted to pick up the Construction Phase Award at this year’s CIRIA BIG Biodiversity Challenge Awards, for our installation on the construction site of Holbein Gardens in central London. Now in its ninth year, the Big Biodiversity Challenge invites the construction industry to add at least one new biodiversity enhancement to construction sites, developments or existing buildings.

It’s a project which we made happen in collaboration with developer Grosvenor and main contractor Blenheim House Construction, and that enables the construction site to give back to the local community both in terms of visual amenity and by providing new habitats for local biodiversity during the construction phase.

The project was praised by the jury for its efforts to humanise the urban landscape by the creation of spaces for residents, as well as providing a positive benefit for biodiversity. Our founder, Alistair Law said: “Grosvenor was our first client in 2016 and it is great to see that collaboration continues successfully. Winning the CIRIA Construction Phase Biodiversity Award is a real endorsement of our innovative approach to vertical greening that enables construction sites to give back both to the community but also to nature in a simple and flexible solution. We hope to see this become the norm rather than the exception.” 

Greening in the heart of London

With our Vertical Meadow Wrap, we introduced 38m2 of native UK calcareous grassland meadow along the gantry handrail facing out into Sloane Square, with a seed mix developed by expert ecologist and horticulturalist Professor Nigel Dunnett, and the London Wildlife Trust. In line with our philosophy of minimising environmental impact every step of the way, the Wrap was delivered to site by bicycle courier, installed by the site team with Vertical Meadow support and commissioning, and is now monitored by the site foreman, as well as remotely by us.

The introduction of a mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain of 10% on construction projects has helped promote the importance of nature in our built environment, but so often the construction phase is still ignored. Temporary biodiversity measures like ours create a bridge between pre- and post-construction, introducing a haven for local invertebrates, bees, butterflies and birds to use before permanent biodiversity is re-introduced.

Grosvenor has set ambitious biodiversity and sustainability targets, including a 200% Biodiversity Net Gain for the completed project and the introduction of new greening equivalent of 11% of the total floor area, and our Vertical Meadow Wrap has helped gain Considerate Constructors scheme points which in turn contribute to the project’s final BREEAM rating. We’re happy to be a part of it.

Nature and the lockdown

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Nature finds its place in our lives

After what has been one of the most challenging years in many of us’ s lifetime we took the plunge and officially launched Vertical Meadow. Perhaps, we are crazy however I think this year really is the year that people finally noticed and appreciated the nature that was around them. Only when we were given restricted access to it ‘our one hour per day exercise’ did we realise that we really missed it. Only when we were facing some of the most extreme pressures in our life time did we go outside to let off steam and appreciate the abundance of nature and its calming effect.

Impact of lockdown

I have seen lots written about the public consciousness of nature since the lockdown.  As someone who lives in central London I suddenly felt this calming effect as streets were cleared of the relentless traffic. An experience that stayed with me during the lockdown was a Parakeet that was perched on a low branch on the Euston Road, one of the most polluted roads in London, it was happy pottering around as the odd car passed by. Only when we stop tormenting cities with traffic, pollution, noise etc does it start to rebound. It shows what is possible if only we were a bit more sensitive and respectful of nature.

Putting some numbers on it

A recent report published by the UK Government Office of National Statistics I think captured this awakening amazingly with some great statistics which quantifiably showed the enormous increase in engagement with nature and in particular in parks. In London that equated to on average 20% increase in the use of local parks compared to a typical year. This however hid some of the peaks. In July and August this increase in annual usage of open greenspace spiked at over 300%.

Probably the result of people not going abroad for holidays. I saw the impact first hand as footpaths in Hampstead Heath became overcrowded and the surrounding grass got chewed up. It really struck me how we needed to invest more in our parks and greenspace to give more people good access.

Following the pandemic, government spending has increased on the NHS which is great, however, nature and green space for me is just an extension of the NHS. It helps with peoples mental health and thus keeps more people away from critical care. This is backed up by the ONS report that cited that 40% pf people in England said ‘visiting local green and natural spaces had been even more important to my well being’. 9 out of 10 people surveyed by Natural England said natural spaces were good for mental health and wellbeing. These free services provided by nature are taken for granted but as the recent Dasgupta report on the economics of Biodiversity shows th economic value is enormous and should be accounted for.

Which brings me back to our cities. If the built environment and our cities were generally greener and full of nature maybe we wouldn’t then need to go and escape from our cities to reduce our stress.  Perhaps our lives could be inherently better balanced. We are not getting any more major parks in our cities so we need to look for cleverer ways to bring nature back in. We think greening facades offers a very visual opportunity for bringing nature back in and hopefully helping to bring this much needed balance we crave. 

First blooms

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Summer arrives but where was Spring?

This week as summer finally arrives we are starting to see the first flowers on our demonstrator of a new living façade concept we’ve been developing over the last six months. Plants are grown from seed and despite a cold start are finally starting to thrive. Every day plants are getting bigger and bigger which is a good metaphor for our business this year!

I’ve been reflecting on a Forbes thought piece describing the constant balance when growing a company between persistence and pivoting – on the one hand persevering with an idea, tinkering, improving, battling on through failure and rejection, and on the other hand changing tack and re-focusing towards new things in light of fresh information.

Our Mission

The mission of Vertical Meadow has always been to bring more biodiversity into cities by making living wall products that were more cost-effective, construction and environmentally-friendly than alternatives. One of the key innovations was growing plants from seed in-situ – removing the energy input, cost and logistical challenges associated with growing plants off-site in greenhouses and transporting them to the final location of a wall. We also hope it reconnects people with nature as they watch the plants grow and change with the seasons..

Connections back to Arup

Before Vertical Meadow was spun out of Arup, we started with a permanent living wall product for building facades, ultimately the big vision. But in light of challenges around procurement and market timing ultimately not being right, we pivoted towards our temporary system.

It’s a similar idea but made from fabric rather than metal, and designed to be in place for just 6-24 months in applications like construction site hoardings and scaffolding and so a ‘smaller bet’ for customers. That’s been going really well, with the first few projects delivered and lots more to come, and has provided the time to perfect the reliability of the irrigation system and sketch out a number of improvements that address customer concerns we originally received on the permanent system.

So here we are now, continuing to develop the temporary product, and revisiting the permanent product, with a new version that will be more cost-effective, flexible and reliable, and at a time when interest in living walls and urban biodiversity is growing exponentially.
Persisting and pivoting in parallel, an active tension but with that same overarching mission – to bring more biodiversity into cities.

We’re really excited about it, and over the coming weeks we’ll share more images, and dive into a bit more detail around biodiversity, both the temporary and permanent products, and the benefits we think they bring.