Europe's largest green wall to be constructed in London

Europe’s largest green wall has been unveiled in London.

Citicape House, located on London’s ‘culture mile’, will be wrapped by a façade of 400,000 plants and is intended to improve the local air quality in an area of London with heavy amounts of traffic.

The building was designed by Sheppard Robson, who hope the green wall will capture over eight tonnes of carbon and produce six tonnes of oxygen every year.

Rather than having an isolated patch of greenery, we felt that an immersive and integrated approach would have the biggest impact on the local environmental conditions

The completed building will contain a five-star hotel alongside a mix of offices, co-working and event spaces, a sky-bar, spa and ground-level restaurant.

“On a site that is so prominent, there was a real drive to inject some fresh perspectives on how to grapple with some on London's most urgent environmental issues, including air quality and noise and dust pollution," said Dan Burr, partner at Sheppard Robson.

"Rather than having an isolated patch of greenery, we felt that an immersive and integrated approach would have the biggest impact on the local environmental conditions, making a better and more liveable city, as well as articulating a clear architectural statement."

The building will also have a rooftop terrace which will provide completely unobstructed view of the capital. The terrace will also feature endangered species of wallflowers to help them flourish.

"The socially sustainable aspects are just as important to us," added Burr. "The publicly accessible spaces and a rich mix of uses allows the public to dwell into the evening and weekends, all directly adjacent to a major transport hub and following the sustainable development ethos."

The building will also feature an external envelope with low U-Values and efficient glazing to minimise heat gain in the building, which will be teamed with renewable energy-sources including air-source heat-pumps to ensure the building functions as sustainably as possible.