Living Walls: understanding,

interest and expectations

BC Municipalities - Summer 2014 Data compiled and analysed by Pauline Barlet

1. Living Wall: Definition

2. Soil-based or hydroponics

3. Why Living Walls?

4. Survey dual objective

5. Questionnaire

6. Participants

7. Awareness – Ecological involvement

8. Knowledge but desire for more info

9. Objections to Living Walls

10. Expectations

11. Conclusion

12. Things you should know

13. The researcher

14. ByNature

Report summary

A Living Wall is a system that allows plants to grow on a vertical panel. It can be either hydroponic (water-based) or soil-based.

Defying gravity, a Living Wall Requires specific engineering, yet some systems are easier than others to install and maintain.

There are interior and exterior Living walls.

Living Wall: Definition

Soil-based or hydroponic?

Soil-based Hydroponic

Water consumption Watering frequency Cost Weight Installation Maintenance Risk

20L per sq/ft per year (same as any landscape project) once a week $80-$100 per sq/ft 12 lbs per sq/ft Easy Low Low

80L to 100L of water per sq/ft per year 3-5 times per day $100-$200 per sq/ft 7 lbs per sq/ft Medium High High

Living Walls are an original and space-efficient way to help people reconnect with nature.

Recent technological advances have made it easier than ever to install and maintain Living Walls.

Throughout Europe and North-America, many organizations, corporations and municipalities are choosing to install Living Walls to improve people’s everyday lives.

Why Living Walls?

Benefits:

- Building beautification

- Building envelope

insulation

- Improved well-being

and indoor air quality

- Biodiversity

In the summer of 2014, we conducted a survey with BC Municipalities about Living Walls.

1. ByNature’s perspective : To understand at which municipal level the decision of installing a Living Wall is taken

2. Municipalities perspective: To understand what is required in terms of knowledge, experience and system requirements

for Living Wall installations.

Survey dual objective

A 22-question form was submitted to the municipalities. Questions were grouped in 4 categories: 1. Information about the municipality 2. Municipal organization and

administration 3. Awareness and knowledge about Living

wa lls 4. Expectations/interest

Questionnaire

Out of the 161 BC municipalities, 156 were contacted and 49 filled in the questionnaire (31%).

Participants

Our results show that most municipalities in BC follow some kind of environmental program. This indicates existing environmental concerns and awareness.

Awareness – Ecological involvement

Although almost every respondent was familiar with the concept of Living Wall, we were asked many questions which indicated a lack of information : “what is the difference between hydroponic and soil-based systems?” “Which is cleaner? More sustainable?”

Knowledge but desire for more information

Five municipalities (12%) had installed Living Walls - and were mostly satisfied with them. The reasons for not installing a Living Wall are : • no opportunity • no desire • no space • cost

Half of the responders would be interested in installing a Living Wall.

Objections to Living Walls

When asked about the preferred look of a Living Wall for their municipalities, responders chose green (rather than flowered), and dense and lush (rather than groomed)

They expressed equal interest in the following benefits: - Air quality - Biodiversity - Thermal insulation - Acoustic insulation - Temperature regulation

Expectations

A desire for more information We were pleased to see that the majority of the responders were not passively answering our questions, but trying to understand more about this still-new technology. This is encouraging us to continue with our education and information initiatives.

Conclusion

Living Walls Are Not

Necessarily Expensive!

ByNature’s Modulogreen system

cost $27 per sq/ft empty, and

depending on the size, your

budget for an installed living wall

can be as low as $80 per sq/ft.

Living Walls – Three things you should know

Soil-based Living Walls

Consume Very Little Water!!

On a square foot basis, a Living

Wall will require as much water

for one year as the average

Canadian uses in… one day!

This is smart technology!

Living Walls Maintenance and Installation is simple

and straightforward.

Plants as big as 1 gallon are planted in an engineered

growing medium, roots will develop healthily, the “green

wow effect” is immediate and plants will be happy for

many seasons! No need to call for Living Wall experts,

your municipal team is absolutely able to install a Living

Wall by themselves!!

Our Living Walls consultants are happy to answer any of your questions and can schedule meetings either face-to-face or via skype.

Info sessions - courses

Contact Nicolas Rousseau: 778 321 8023 – Nicolas@bynaturedesign.ca

Fred Collay: 604 418 9217 – Fred@bynaturedesign.ca

Nicolas Rousseau teaches the course on Living Walls at BCIT. Contact us for more details about programs.

Pauline Barlet A 3rd year student in horticultural engineering at Agrocampus Ouest (Angers, France) Pauline is studying with the goal of developing new ideas and avenues in the field of Living Wall technology.

The researcher

ByNature is the joint project of two Frenchmen: Nicolas Rousseau, a former researcher at the school of Architectural Ecology at BCIT, is a horticulture engineer. Fred Collay is a communications graduate and biophilia advocate. Today ByNature is 6-person company based in Vancouver. They have been installing and distributing Living Walls in North America for more than three years and have appeared in the Globe & Mail, Vancouver Sun, Georgia Strait and were on CTV and CBC Television.

ByNature

ByNature: 490 – 1000 Parker St Vancouver, BC, V6A 2H2 (604) 436 2919 cool@bynaturedesign.ca