Scotscape install first engineered Living Wall that has been designed to support trees and shrubs on the side of buildings

Scotscape have installed a 25m2 woodland trial wall at their Head Office in Surbiton which has been designed to support a ‘mini forest of trees and shrubs’.

The wall is natural a progression to their hugely successful patented Living Wall system, which has been widely used in the UK and abroad over the past 7 years.  Our goal is to make our cities more resilient to climate change and urban pollution and this evolution of vertical greening could play an important role.  Retrofitting our existing buildings successfully is crucial to improving our resilience.

The two key variations to the existing system are that the pocket size has increased to allow the planting of up to 3 litre shrubs and trees and the density of planting has been reduced to allow for healthy root spread.

Trial Objectives:

To monitor the general health and growth rates of the trees and shrubs

The structural ability of the system to support the loadings that trees will exert

To trial specific species of tree that help with reducing pollution

Scotscape have been at the forefront of innovation and research in the vertical greening market since they were first introduced into the UK in 2008.

In 2012 a year long study into the thermal benefits of Living Walls with Sheffield University enabled Scotsacpe to develop their existing Living Wall system and in 2014 with Cambridge University a year long trial into the ability of plants in Living Walls to produce electricity was successfully concluded.

Angus Cunningham Scotscape MD ‘’ I am very excited about this trial as it demonstrates an evolution of vertical greening.  We operate a hugely successful living wall system that continues to suit interior and exterior installations, however we are keen to provide a solution to support larger species.  If we are to genuinely improve air quality and biodiversity in cities we need to scale up even further.  After all Britain used to be covered in trees – not low level vegetation!”

Scotscape are committed to introducing sustainable Landscapes in the built environment to promote biodiversity, health and wellbeing

If you wish to visit the installation or find out more, please contact Niall McEvoy on Niallm@scotscape.net