Biodiversity boost for Gloucester as The Forum’s vertical garden is completed

The ‘green wall’ on the new development brought forward by Gloucester City council and partners Reef Group is made up of more than 4,800 panels and 48,000 individual plants, set to capture the same amount of carbon as 32 trees.

Sitting on the site’s new multi-story carpark, the vertical garden boasts 80 plants per square metre and will improve biodiversity, boost air quality and help with temperature control by cooling the building in the summer.

It will be watered through a hydroponics system running through the wall using a plant feed that includes recycled rainwater.

Niall McEvoy, green infrastructure consultant at designers Viritopia, said: “Our approach to a living wall project takes into account many factors, including the orientation of the building to consider the sunlight, planting species with the same irrigation requirements, and understanding which plants will thrive in a built environment. The plants chosen provide a range of ecological benefits, spanning from providing shelter for wildlife, capturing carbon and producing nectar for bees.

“Maintenance of the living wall has also been carefully considered as you can’t tend to it as you would a normal garden. We will undertake monthly health check visits, as well as scheduled, seasonal horticultural prunes where a cherry picker will be used to access the whole width and height of the wall.”

The plants which are mostly evergreen with some bulbs providing splashes of seasonal colour. Plants for the living wall spent two years growing in a nursery before being planted into the specially designed panels.

The new vertical garden is in line with the development’s green credentials and Gloucester City Council’s pledge to do more to tackle climate change.

The Forum, which will offer premium office space, retail space, restaurants, and a boutique hotel set to open next year, is being built to a BREEAM rating of Excellent and will be net-zero carbon in operation.

To promote sustainable travel, it is next to Gloucester’s new 6.4m bus station and the train station, as well as providing bicycle parking on-site. While the 398-space car park, operated by Q-Park, will include 39 spaces with electric vehicle charging points.

Councillor Jeremy Hilton, leader of Gloucester City Council, said: “Green walls have a vast number of benefits and can work to reduce temperatures, improve air quality as well as making cities more liveable and pleasant places to be.

“We know global warming will present us with huge challenges but by prioritising sustainable building designs and green spaces like the green wall, we’re preparing for a changing climate and helping to reduce our emissions.”

Peter Langly-Smith, managing director at Reef Group, said: “As well as boosting the site’s biodiversity, the living wall is an impressive focal point to The Forum. Requiring specialist design and expert installation, we’re proud to have one of the largest vertical gardens in the South West.

“A challenge in any urban development is maximising its environmental credentials and the living wall is a perfect example of how we have embraced that challenge. It provides ecological benefits, as well as a real connection to nature in the heart of the city.”

The Forum is part of Gloucester’s £200m regeneration project to transform Gloucester city centre with partners, the University of Gloucestershire.

ENDS