Student Accommodation Green Wall, Tower Bridge

The Minories, near Tower Bridge, is a premium student accommodation block owned and operated by Urbanest.

Part of the design brief for the Biotecture student accommodation green wall was to ensure that the green wall rainscreen cladding would secure the maximum possible number of BREEAM points for the development as a whole.  This was achieved through the plant palette selection and design, and this went towards the overall ‘Excellent’ BREEAM rating that the building received.

Green walls can also improve a building’s thermal performance; enhance biodiversity; and, improve the appearance of the city and the well-being of local residents.

Importantly, the green wall on this building acts as the rainscreen, so the costs of the green wall are offset against the usual costs of rainscreen cladding. Biotecture’s living wall system is unique in that it can be included as part of the envelope design of a building.

The client also took an impressive, long-term sustainability view of maintenance, adapting the façade access cradle system so that it could also be used for maintaining the green wall, as well as its more usual role of providing access to clean the glazing. This excellent move simplifies future maintenance work and reduces long term costs.

If you would like to learn more about living wall maintenance and how we ensure that the living walls we install continue to wow for years to come you can visit our ‘Aftercare’ page.

The green facade which faces the adjacent park area softens the hard lines of the building and allows it to integrate with the surrounding landscape design.