'Living' office block a 'greenprint' for future builds

The living wall has more than 350,000 plants

The design of a "living" office block, dubbed one of the most environmentally friendly in the UK, has become a "greenprint for the future" for high rise developments.

Eden is a 12-storey sustainable office block in New Bailey, Salford, featuring Europe’s largest living wall, and is one of the UK's "greenest" buildings.

It boasts more than 350,000 plants and 32 species, ranging from strawberries to bluebells.

It has a state of the art irrigation system funnelling rainwater down to plants, but pruning still has to be done by hand and will be tied in with window cleaning.

All other buildings should be modelled against Eden, Niall McEvoy says

A former derelict car park, the development is a key part of English Cities Fund £1bn regeneration of the Salford central area.

Niall McEvoy, a green consultant on the ground-breaking project, said: "We've tied [the pruning] in with the window washers.

"Four gardeners can enter and it's like an elevator.

"A platform will rise up and we will just prune all the plants into a green waste bag."

He said many of the plants on the eye-catching living wall were installed to boost the biodiversity of the area.

"We also want to include woody species to help absorb gases such as nitric oxide and to absorb carbon."

Eden is one of the UK's greenest buildings

Lead architect Stuart Fraser, of Make Architects, said Eden was energy efficient, net zero and low on embodied carbon.

Mr Fraser said repurposed materials were also used inside the building, increasing its green credentials.

"For example, we salvaged and reused an old gym flooring that came out of a University of Central Lancashire sports hall," he said.

"This is the best certified building in the country for energy performance."

Eden is energy efficient, net zero and low on embodied carbon, says architect Stuart Fraser

Ella Woodward, of Muse, one of the developers on the scheme, said: "We are hoping this is a greenprint for the future of office buildings.

"We have really tried to create something that pushed the boundaries in terms of how sustainable construction can be."

Companies are due to start moving in over the coming weeks.

Ella Woodward, of Muse, says the project has "pushed boundaries"

Angela Cross, of accountants BDO, which will be one of the firms located at the building, said green credentials were becoming more and more important to young people.

"It's definitely part of the decision making people make when they're choosing their employer," she said.

"Moving into a building like this is really important for us because it gives us a competitive edge in a really challenging recruitment market."

Mr McEvoy said: "It's the building that all others should be modelled against and the living wall is almost the cherry on the cake."