News
Meristem Design were delighted to present on 'the connection between a green office and a happy office' at the eOffice Coworking Conference.
We wanted to share our strong belief that being connected to nature can bring significant benefits to businesses and their employees.
Research has shown that by introducing nature into an office space both staff absenteeism and sick building syndrome reduces while increasing creativity by as much as 6%.
Meristem Design were happy to be part of Hackney Council's Car Free Day on Fashion Street in East London, to help celebrate clean air and sustainable transport. The road was transformed into a car free zone for the day, and commuters and local residents were encouraged to leave their cars at home and enjoy the freedom of travelling by bike, foot, bus or the London Overground.
Meristem provided lush greenery, seating and planters as an alternative to traditional road barriers, which helped to promote the idea of clean living and urban greening.
Meristem Design were delighted to announce the official launch their Shoreditch parklet on Clean Air Day 15th June commissioned by Hackney Borough Council. This project is part of the joint partnership venture between Hackney Council, Islington Council and Tower Hamlets Council and is part of a larger initiative to encourage green spaces, cleaner air, and to promote cycling, under the Low Emission Neighbourhoods (LEN) initiative programme.
Parklets are a unique way of creating an instant mini oasis of natural calm in the midst of our busy urban realms. Situated on Calvert Avenue the 10m by 2m parklet has seating for 14 people and 8 bike parking spaces on a curb flush platform incorporating 12m of mixed shrub and herbaceous planters topped by Jasmine clad trellis together with 2 trees. The planting style brings natural beauty to the urban environment with a mixture of hardy long flowering, drought tolerant, pollution mitigating, aromatic plants together with edible herbs.
The parklet is an invigorating place-making asset for the local residential and business community as well as visitors to the area. It is cared for and maintained by the local Spitalfields Crypt Trust (SCT), a local charity providing support and practical training to assist people who have been homeless and suffering from addiction, poverty or social isolation. A SCT member said: “It’s almost like a portal to a garden as it allows you to sit amongst plants, I’m very impressed how seemingly it has integrated into our street and how often it is used”.
Hear what some of the residents and local business owners think of Meristem Design's recently installed Parklet, in Hackney. The scheme is part of the ZEN and LEN schemes, sponsored by Tower Hamlets, Islington and Hackney councils as well as The Mayor of London.
We have recently undertaken a Green Audit review at the dual reception spaces at 20 Gracechurch Street, in the City of London. The audit was part of a wider project to refurbish the interior and exterior spaces that lead in from Gracechurch Street and George Yard into the BNP Paribas managed office building.
We undertook a review of the light levels, current interventions, and potential for adding greenery. Please see images below of our before and after renders, which form part of our ongoing collaboration with BNP Paribas. Watch this space!
The Meristem team would like to invite you to come and visit our newly installed Parklet, on Calvert Avenue, just off Shoreditch High Street, on the 15th of June. The event will be hosted by Hackney Council as part of the LEN (low emissions neighbourhood) initiative, and will be packed full of other urban greening and sustainable transport ideas.
The local event is being hosted as part of National Clean Air Day on the 15th June.
Air pollution is real and harms the health of millions. Unlike other risks to our health, lots of people don’t know what causes air pollution, what effects it has on our bodies or how to reduce our exposure to it.
But there are lots of simple things we can do to improve air quality and look after our own and other people’s health.That’s what National Clean Air Day is all about. It’s a chance to find out more about air pollution, share information with your friends and colleagues, and take action to make the air cleaner and healthier for everyone.
