Urban greening company Treebox has installed a living hoarding at Guy's Hospital in London to help the hospital minimise its carbon footprint and achieve its ambition of being a sustainability leader in the NHS.
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust asked Treebox to install the ivy hoarding around the building site for its new King's Health Partners Cancer Centre, which will open in 2016.
The green hoarding is in keeping with the Trust's sustainability strategy and improves air quality for patients, staff and the local community. The ivy hoarding is also more aesthetically pleasing than a traditional hoarding, and helps reduce the noise from the construction site.
Although the building project will end in three years, the green hoarding's use will not end then. One of the reasons the Trust chose to have a living hoarding was the opportunity to recycle it, either by planting the ivy on one of its two hospital sites for patients, staff and visitors to enjoy, or by working with the community to replant the ivy into a local park or garden.
The Trust believes the Treebox hoarding will help it fulfil its goal of become a sustainability leader within the NHS.
As part of the project, the Trust had to demolish two existing smaller buildings as well as the surrounding gardens. The Trust wanted to reintroduce this greenery immediately rather than waiting until the project was completed, and so approached Treebox about installing an ivy hoarding.
Armando Raish, Managing Director of Treebox, commented: "Green hoardings are increasingly being used to improve the appearance of building sites and we are delighted to be working with Guy's and St Thomas's NHS Foundation Trust. As this example shows, living hoardings are a great way for public sector organisations to meet and exceed their sustainability goals.
"The use of a green hoarding at a hospital is particularly appropriate because greenery helps reduce the amounts of microscopic pollutants in the air, thereby improving respiratory health."
Deirdre Conn, Senior Project Manager for the new Cancer Centre at Guy's and St Thomas', said: "Throughout the planning of the King's Health Partners Cancer Centre the views of our community have played a vital role. To address the impact of the construction on the immediate neighbourhood we have installed a green ivy hoarding. The green hoarding will reduce noise, dust and provide visual interest to the neighbourhood.
"We aspire to be a sustainability leader within the NHS and the use of Treebox's green hoarding will help us to achieve this."
