As you can see in our case studies, flowering plants, pollinator planting, bulbs and perennials can all be used in living walls.  96 plants per square metre ensures dense coverage and maximum gain for local biodiversity.

A living wall can indeed flourish in extreme climates.  We have successful living walls in Northern Sweden, Australia and the Middle East (in fact our largest yet is in Qatar!).  Essentially, there are four key factors to get right to ensure a long-term sustainable solution in any climate:

• Plant selection
• Substrate
• Water management
• Maintenance

We have a specialist consulting team who can work together to produce a feasibility study with a value analysis, technical drawings and design options. Give us a call to find out more or click here to find out more about our consulting work.

The module is warranted for 10 years, and it’s never exposed to the UV rays and there is no reason for it to ever deteriorate.

Founded on nature, meaning the plants are growing in their natural habitat, rather than man-made.  The Viritopia Living Wall Module has a central compartment that is separate from the module edge. This central compartment can move in and out which allows for root migration and removes the risk of a plant becoming pot bound.  This self-composting cycle creates a richer soil base and thus leads to a healthier living wall in the long-term. Soil also naturally retains moisture well, which means the wall does not need constant irrigation, and in fact we can use rainwater harvesting to make the installation more sustainable.  With the plants growing in their natural growing media, heavy application of chemicals is not necessary which means no toxic run-off, and the plants are more resilient, meaning lower maintenance.

Apart from natural modular systems, the other main green wall systems out there are hydroponics, pocket planters, wire systems and climbers, and window box systems.

Here’s a quick summary on each:

Hydroponics:

Plants are grown in a geo-textile fabric, irrigated, and fed regularly to maintain the aesthetic. 

Pocket planters:

Either made from woven fabric with pockets for each plant or with plastic pots with one or more plants per pot.  These can look impressive with full coverage when initially planted.  However, in the long term the constrained rooting space causes plants to fail frequently. This leads to higher maintenance costs with plant replacements or an unsightly failing wall.

Some pocket systems are very basic and lack automatic irrigation systems, while others do include irrigation. Overall, these systems offer a false economy with low initial costs but a long term struggle to keep the plants alive. 

Wire systems and climbers:

An ideal low-cost option to add greenery.  However, these take time to establish and plant selection is restricted to climbing plants only.  The height the climbers or plants on a wire system can reach is limited to the depth of the soil in which they are planted (in the ground or in a trough).

The very reason for the development of our living walls is to bring biodiverse value.  Natural soil affords us a greater plant variety to choose from, meaning we can be specific about choosing plants that offer the most value for biodiversity.  Soil also caters for burrowing insects, creating alternative ecological habitats.  Our modular build-up allows us to incorporate insect hotels, bird and bat boxes to encourage wildlife.

A hydroponic system uses geo-textile fabrics in a pocket structure.  The use of man-made material means that the plants require additional support through chemicals and high maintenance to flourish and keep healthy (this is because the plants are not growing in their natural environment).  As they are not growing in their natural growing media, one is restricted in plant selection and spring bulbs and other plant types that provide added biodiversity cannot be used.

On the other hand, natural soil allows us greater creativity in plant design for aesthetics and biodiversity, retains moisture well, meaning minimum water usage, and does not require intensive chemical applications, meaning no toxic run-off.