University of East Anglia Living Wall

The University of East Anglia commissioned this living wall for their Crome Court student accommodation block which was ‘the jewel in the crown’ of their £58 million campus redevelopment. This building is positioned in a built up area of the university campus near to public homes. The living wall which wraps the corner of the building to soften the impact of the building in the landscape. This feature was welcomed by the local authority planning department and became a significant feature of the planning application for the project.

This 77m2 living wall wrapping the corner of the building adds a striking feature to the university landscape. It was important for the landscape design to offer an immediate impact so a living wall system that was pre-grown off site was an obvious benefit meaning that there was no establishment time. This had the added benefit of a short on site installation timescale which was important because of tight time scales on site.

‘Grey water’ from showers is recycled for toilet cisterns and to irrigate the external green living wall. The building went on to win several awards including the 2015 Green Gown Award for the Built Environment and the RICS National and Regional Design Through Innovation Award in 2015

The planting design intended to create a wave pattern across the wall with bands running in curves of variable width. The client was also keen to incorporate a mauve or purple colour into the planting design as well as flowering species to attract pollinating insects.

To see another example of a university living wall that Biotecture have installed at Teesside University you can read our full case study in our portfolio.