New cladding system will help deliver Biodiversity Net Gain

Despite the news that the government is delaying Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) as a mandatory part of the planning system in England until January 2024, we remain undeterred. We’ve been busy working with some remarkable clients and collaborators following this summer’s launch of our new Vertical Meadow Cladding system – a patented and revolutionary facade greening solution which uses native wildflower meadows designed to restore and enhance biodiversity in cities.

Similar to our Vertical Meadow Wrap, the cladding system follows three key principles:

1. Native plant species which are grown from seeds on site. This supports local ecology whilst at the same time reducing costs, embodied carbon, plastics (particularly from plant pots and trays) and site logistics.
2. Industry standard materials and fixing methods. This creates a construction-friendly system that can be easily installed by the site team or existing contractors, rather than a specialist installer.
3. Automated systems driven by sophisticated remote monitoring. This ensures that minimum input is required from the building operations team, and through continual learning from data we can minimise water consumption and carry out proactive maintenance.

We have collaborated closely on the design with our team of facade engineers to create a cladding solution which is non-combustible – something we believe to be unique for the living wall industry – and embeds multiple fail-safe systems to prevent it from drying out. By partnering with horticultural experts we’ve ensured it responds to the environmental crisis by using species-rich native wild grass and wildflower seed mixes that provide a haven for pollinators, insects, birds and butterflies.

We have been working with our chosen delivery partners, both locally and internationally, affording us credibility, expertise and manufacturing capability to bring Vertical Meadow Cladding to life on developments in various geographies (watch this space for further announcements soon!).

We will continue to research, test and develop our products to enable us to quantify, evidence, and predictively report on their environmental benefits. Our goal is to accelerate interest and uptake, in turn helping the built environment tackle the breakdown of biodiversity.

Get in touch with us to discuss the potential of using Vertical Meadow Cladding on your development.