, ,

Green Audit at BNP Paribas

, ,

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!

Please join us at the Parklet, for National Clean Air Day

12 midday - 2pm, 15th June 2017, Calvert Avenue, Shoreditch

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.

About National Clean Air Day

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.

 

 

Event Location:

 

Travels Abroad - living walls everywhere

On a recent trip to Australia and Indonesia we stumbled across living walls everywhere. Have a look at the fantastic planting, the succulents were thriving. We need to have more living walls in public spaces in the UK, Indonesia and Australia seem to be years ahead of us in terms of urban greening.

Living Wall Adelaide
,

Forever Beta's Green Offices

,

Take a look at the photo's from our recent install at East London based, Forever Beta's new office space. We think our planting scheme has really made this space sing!

Our brief was to 'green-up' Forever Beta's new office space and add some tactility. The blank canvas of a pared back, industrial warehouse with exposed services was a great start. Our key planting elements complement the industrial style in their metal simple forms. We also added a nod to Forever Beta's signature red logo in the use of red rope for hanging planters. Our design is made up by 4 key planting elements.

 

Hanging Pots

We love the versatility of these planters. With the ability to hook onto one another, you can create a pillar of greenery, or a singular basket of green beauty. A mix of trailing plants work well in this planter since it adds to the overall vertical hanging effect the planters have. We used Vinca minor, Hoya linearis, Tradescantia zebrine, Asplenium scolopend, and Philodendron scandens. We positioned the hanging pots in key locations to frame spaces, such as by pillars or to frame the tea point.

Trailing Trays

Adding planting to the ceiling area is a great way to achieve maximum greenery impact. Often office spaces are so fully occupied with furniture and people that a pot plant easily goes a miss. Raising the plants towards the ceiling helps them get noticed. We designed a series of trays to hang from the signature Forever Beta red rope from the ceiling. Similar to the hanging pots, the trays helped frame the space and added an industrial element to the existing exposed services of the building. We planted Cissus rhombifolia and Ellen danica .

Bottle Buckets

These vintage bottle bins are a great find, a brilliant creative reuse for planters. They are on castors meaning they can be moved around the office space. The substantial metal planters and plants that will continue to fill out, create a visual and acoustic barrier in the office space. The mix of tropical type plants which are great for indoor use were; Epipemnum aureum, Phlebodium 'Blue Star', Alocasia x amazonica, Tradescantia zebrine, Aspenium scolopend Crispa, Howea foresteriana, Zamioculus zamiifolia.

Succu-love

In Forever Beta's new darkly painted boardroom, we chose terracotta planters and a mix of cacti and succulents to give the space a desert like feeling. We particularly love the giant cacti that stands proud and majestic central boardroom. Using the window cill for lining up the mini cacti and succulents means the sun entering on these beauties will fuel their growth.

,

Recently Visited Project

,

Thailand’s Vivarium is part restaurant, part terrarium.

By Katie Cleary

Thai design agency Hypothesis, took the idea of a terrarium and applied it to the design of a restaurant called Vivarium in Bangkok. Hanging plants, mostly ferns that love Bangkok's humid air, create a lush greenscape that dominates the double height space. Inspiring use of ceiling space and natural materials - the plants and use of found wood.

Images from inhabitat.

Meristem's Instagram

View fullsize What an amazing transformation! 🤩 ⁣Swipe to the last picture to see the difference! 🤗⁣ Thanks to @grow_n22 and local residents, the #gladstoneparklet - Haringey’s first official Parklet has a brand new and custom built seed library and water
View fullsize Green Bike Planters being rolled out across Hackney, the greener way to park your bike🌱 @hackneycouncil @hackneylivingstreets #planters #parklet #bike #cycling #plants #london #hackney #cleanair #greenlondon
View fullsize Not long now until the schools start up again, summer is nearly over already! Our teams have been working hard installing planters and irriagation systems in schools all across London and beyond! These clever systems, recycle the rain water to water
View fullsize Things are getting hairy! ✂️Summer in full bloom, on this gorgeous and thriving living wall, looking lush 🌱🪴🍀 . . . . #biophilicdesign #biophilia #plantwall #greenwall #greendesign #verticalgarden #livingwall #plants #interiordesign #interiordesi
View fullsize
View fullsize A new aerial art installation has taken over London’s famous Oxford Street ✨ to encourage action on the transition to a slow carbon future, helping to fund community rooftop solar energy and the planting of woodland in the capital. ⁣⁣ The Clean
View fullsize
View fullsize Plants, Colours & Planters 💕🌿 AshFord council suspended 8 parking bays on Bank Street in the town centre to trial alternative use of parking bays. The scheme can seat up to 50 pedestrians and has been painted in vibrant colours to make the to
View fullsize Milan’s Il Bosco Verticale (the Vertical Forest) is the perfect blend of nature and architecture 🌿⁣ ⁣ In essence it is an architectural concept which replaces traditional materials on urban surfaces using the changing polychromy of leaves for
View fullsize