London Wall Place

Transforming London Wall with Spacehub and Make Architects

This extensive scheme is transforming the historic London Wall and creating a thriving new business quarter and public amenity space.

It was a vision of Make Architects and Spacehub, the landscape architects, to have green infrastructure within the Barbican in the City of London, not only to create a green oasis next to a busy road, but also to bring nature along the high walk.

Watch the video

Featured Solutions:

Exterior Living Wall
Green Roof

Size: 300m² +

Industry: Infrastructure, Stations and Public Spaces

Project Drivers

Biodiversity

Social Impact

Air Quality

Acoustics

Realising the vision

The development of this vision involved a number of vertical green facades and neither had the experience to deliver what was required, so we were taken on board to work on the design and integration.

London Wall Place: living wall on a balustrade with lavender and other foliage

Plant Selection

As well as ensuring suitability for the location, we also selected native species to the area of the Old London Wall, dating back to the 1800s. We then selected bulbs such as crocuses, snowdrops, bluebells, daffodils and other plants to inhabit various microclimates over the location, all with different challenges.

The unique benefit of soil

The unique benefit of using the Viritopia Living Wall System being that it is founded on an organic substrate enabled us to design with an extensive plant palette that was suited to every elevation.

verdant lush living wall against a white facade

A verdant landscape

The vision for London Wall place was a really verdant landscape with three gardens at different levels all connected by vertical planting, therefore the green walls were a major component of delivering that vision.

The highwalk

As you walk along the high walk, you'll see there are different plant palettes but they are all suitable to where they are located within the high walk.

Designing with a purpose

These plant palettes will give benefits such as air purification, sound absorption and biodiversity, creating an alternative ecological habitat (like nesting areas) and providing benefits for the local environment for years to come.

We felt that the reassurances we were receiving and the feedback helped us through the process. We found Viritopia a safe pair of hands for a very high profile project where the green walls were a very significant component and failure wasn't an option.

Jessica Beattie

Senior Landscape Architect at SpaceHub Design

This extensive development has been announced as a RIBA London Award Winner for 2019!

Watch the full project video here.

People enjoying the Highwalk at London Wall Place