July 26, 2019

Are you fed up of stuffy offices or polluted streets?   If so, you’ll probably think that it’s too difficult to sort because the city is too overcrowded to add anything to clean it and the office isn’t a suitable place to install anything to help fix it either. 

  So, what do you do about it?   Like most you may choose to just accept it, or you could help.   This post will explain the benefits of Living walls and structures and how their implementation in various situations (some you may find hard to believe) will help improve your life and the lives of others around you.

We’ll explore the following benefits in this blog for you;

• Aesthetics
• Improved air quality
• Insulation
• Urban heat island effect
• Reduction in noise pollution
• Flood mitigation
• Improved Urban biodiversity

Aesthetics

So, you’re looking for a solution to clean the air around you?   Your initial perception may be that anything that can help will be ugly?   Well that doesn’t have to be the case!   Living walls create a WOW factor unrivalled by other interior or exterior finishes.  

Improved air quality

Believe it or not, aesthetics isactually a biproduct of the real benefits of a living wall.   Living walls breath air into cities and purify air in interiors – leading to improved working environments and happier staff.   The University of Lancaster found living walls to be more effective than trees at reducing carbon dioxide in dense urban areas with high pollution levels.   This is due to the nature of city landscapes, the tall buildings create ‘Street Canyons’ which traps pollution at street level, living walls can increase the deposition rate by as much as 40% of Nitrogen and 60% for particulate matter as the cleaner air from above the street canyons is introduced.

Insulation

Living walls provide great insulation!   Keeping buildings cool in the summer and warmer in the winter – creating proven energy efficiency,   Leading manufacturer Scotscape (who we are installers for) have an ongoing research and development programme which includes research into the thermal benefits of living walls, undertaken at the university of Sheffield and sponsored by Scotscape, this yearlong study exposed irrefutable evidence of the effectiveness of living walls to cool buildings in the summer and insulate buildings in the winter.

Urban heat island effect

Heat islands occur on the surface and in the atmosphere. On a hot, sunny summer day, the sun can heat dry, exposed urban surfaces, such as roofs and pavement, to temperatures 50–90°F (27–50°C) hotter than the air, while shaded or moist surfaces – often in more rural surroundings – remain close to air temperatures. Adding living walls and green roofs to urban structures mimics the conditions presented in rural surroundings, mitigating the urban heat island effect and making cities more temperate in the summer months.

Reduction in noise pollution

Living wall structures can reduce noise levels in buildings. Plants are regularly used to reduce noise on motorways and within urban environments. Living walls reduce noise levels by reflecting, refracting as well as absorbing acoustic energy. This further assists with reducing stress in working environments leading to happier healthier staff and improved staff retention.

Flood mitigation

Living walls are absorbent along-with green roofs and rain gardens – absorption helps to slow down rainwater run-off, making urban areas less prone to flash flooding.

Improved Urban biodiversity

Living walls can ‘mimic’ biodiversity in areas where green has been stripped away and replaced with the built environment, supporting insects and birdlife. Scotscape offers a bug habitat to all of our living wall clients to further promote the message of the benefits that living walls bring to urban environments. Supporting insects and birdlife with valuable foraging.

Added Value

There are some added value benefits to having Living walls too.   I know they just keep giving!   They also help you or your business communicate your passion for the environment and improve your green credentials.   They have been championed by well known retailers, hoteliers and commercial businesses – Green walls demonstrate a company’s sustainability targets and corporate social responsibility.

Conclusion

Wow! That’s a lot to digest.   So, to answer your question of ‘is there a sensible green solution to improving my quality of life?’   Yes!   Living walls both interior and exterior clean the air, improve the aesthetics of the area, provide insulation and cooling properties (further reducing carbon emissions and heat emitted by air conditioning or heating), Reduce the urban heat island effect, reduce noise pollution, mitigate flooding and improve urban biodiversity

Look out for

Smart Pillars.   As I said some you may find hard to believe.   Well how about living walls on pillars like lampposts etc?   There is a solution for that too and it means no need to cover architecturally beautiful buildings when you can use other existing infrastructure already in the area too.