Scotscape Ltd, the market leader in the design, installation and on-going maintenance of living wall systems, has completed the installation of four new living walls at Marks and Spencer's Simply Food stores in a variety of locations around the UK.
The living walls form an integral part of Marks and Spencer's renowned "˜Plan A Sustainability Programme' which has inspired retailers worldwide to improve their sustainability performance.
Having built a series of sustainable learning stores over the past couple of years at Sheffield, Norwich, Stratford City and Cheshire Oaks, Marks and Spencer has further refined its commitment to implementing successful sustainable building features.
Along with 100% LED lighting, re-using waste heat, and rain-water harvesting, Scotscape Living Walls have now been applied to four of the company's existing Simply Food stores at - Slough, Heswall, Oswestry and Epping.
Proven in applications throughout the UK and Europe, the benefits of living walls are far-reaching, delivering a wide range of both aesthetic and performance advantages to buildings of all size, shape and scale. The key benefits include air-purification, sound abatement, insulation (leading to improved U-values and carbon reduction) and flood water mitigation. The installation of well-designed and well-maintained living walls also contributes significantly to the development of biodiversity in our cities, providing habitats for insects, birds and butterflies. In the retail environment living walls bring an "˜eco store' to life for customers and employees.
Commenting on the programme, Scotscape's Managing Director, Angus Cunningham said: "We're delighted to be working so closely with Marks and Spencer to help the company deliver its ambitious sustainability programme. Of the 40% energy savings target throughout each store, we will be able to quantify how our living walls assist with meeting this target through our ongoing research and development.
"Our installation teams retrofitted the living walls to existing stores, the variety of building age and type adding an extra challenge to the process. Our ongoing research and development programme with the University of Sheffield enables us to quantify the thermal benefits of living walls – making the case for incorporating these systems even more engaging."
