Is the boom in green roofs and living walls good for sustainability? Yes!

Vegetation is returning to our cities. The trend started with rooftop planters on City banks in the 2000s, before spreading to the occasional green wall on a luxury hotel. Now, entire urban blocks are being transformed with ever-more ambitious plant projects.

Heatherwick Studio and BIG’s new headquarters for Google at King’s Cross promises a grass-laden ‘plateau’, two ‘tree walkways’, a ‘garden’ and even a ‘headland’ on its roof. Eric Parry’s latest City of London skyscraper will have a 26-storey green wall while KPF’s 70 Gracechurch Street will have planted terraces on more than 25 storeys. 

Not to be outdone, an extension to Blackfriars Crown Court by Studio RHE will be topped with a 100-tree ‘forest’. In Salford, construction has started on an 11-storey office building by Make, which will feature a green wall façade around glazing. And another KPF office building in London’s Victoria will boast 2,800m² of green space, including a rooftop ‘urban farm’ with ‘community allotments’. 

This recent crop of verdant buildings is partly being driven by the demand for blingy – and greener– offices. Even before coronavirus, big companies were looking for offices that offered more than desk space, as well as a base from which to woo clients. 

But there is more to the story than office wellness. Plants have a powerful ability to lower temperatures in cities, as well as make buildings more habitable through noise reduction, air filtration and creating attractive places. They are also crucial for improving the UK’s biodiversity.

In June, a report by the Climate Change Committee called for the government to urgently tackle heat-related deaths in homes by specifically encouraging measures such as better shading and green cover in cities.

And a report published by the RSPB and WWF this month said green walls and green roofs should be more widely adopted due to the ‘vital role’ they play in flood reduction, heating and cooling buildings, improving biodiversity and filtering air pollution.

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