The Gaumont, Heart of the City

Sheffield city centre is undergoing significant redevelopment to create a more connected, vibrant, and sustainable urban environment. One of the key buildings receiving a major facelift is the former Gaumont building, which overlooks Barker’s Pool, a prominent public square.

Biotecture was appointed to bring the building’s living walls to life. The design team at HLM Architecture sought to reflect the building’s history as a theatre in the early 20th century, with a façade inspired by art deco proscenium arches. Squares of living wall were incorporated to enhance the greening of the city centre and contribute to its sustainability goals.

Our BioPanel living wall system was selected to act as the building’s rainscreen cladding. Biotecture worked closely with the design team and the main contractor (repeat client McLaughlin & Harvey) to ensure that the living walls were seamlessly integrated with other design elements.

To achieve the desired ‘green panel’ aesthetic, we implemented a simple, evergreen planting scheme using 9 different varieties. The living walls were pre-grown into our patented BioPanel modular panels at our dedicated nursery facility before being installed on-site.

Fire safety was a top priority for this project, and there were concerns about the living wall drying out. To address this, our BioPanel living walls feature a fully comprehensive, remotely monitored irrigation system that can be adjusted according to environmental conditions. Our Growing medium Grodan is also extremely water retentive holding water for up to 2 weeks in case of irrigation failure.

For added peace of mind, we developed and installed 32 moisture sensors across the project to monitor water levels in the wall. These sensors will not only ensure optimal performance but also inform future irrigation schedules.