Just two train stops from the official London Olympics site is a spectacular example of living wall art.  It is also Europe's tallest living wall and it sits quite proudly on Digby Road. This artwork can be found on the side of an award winning and eco-friendly apartment block in Central London, Hackney. The vertical living wall is fourteen stories high with plants climbing the façade of the building and they wrap over to the roof into a garden for the residents to enjoy.

London's living wall in Digby Road consists of evergreens which have been cleverly selected. The plants have been installed into the concrete cladding where the designers have created a green tapestry which covers one wall of the apartments. The design is eye catching, where the shape is formed like a series of rolling waves on the side of the building – they rise and fall in curves. The landscaped wave designs have been created by planting five distinct species which are indeed five different shades of green. The evergreens have also been selected to add another texture to the building, and the green colour compliments the terracotta paintwork.

The survival of these plants was of great importance to ensure that the vertical wall art remained aesthetically pleasing to all passers by – all year round. Especially since London is known to have four seasons in one day, the landscape designers have taken great lengths to choose the right species of plants. No matter what the weather, the artwork was selected to remain intact -  and evergreens were selected as plants which were considered the most suitable for any weather condition. It happens that even if London is warm or cold – the evergreens will remain green and the beauty of the artwork will be maintained.

The building and the living wall art have both won numerous awards including one of the most respected property awards, being the Estates Gazette's (EG) Green Award.  The green walling system not only provides insulation from solar gain, but it aids natural rain filtration.  The insulation benefits are both thermal and acoustic aspects as the green wall itself absorbs sound – which is a great benefit to an inner city apartment block with 96 units. Also, since the green wall in Digby Road has been erected in such an urban area, the wall itself helps improve local air quality, absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen to the resident's windows near by.

The environmentally friendly wall art on Digby Road is indeed stunning. It was affixed to the wall not only to improve the aesthetics of a redeveloped building in Central London but it works to protect the building façade and deter graffiti which is always prevalent in a large city.

You too can create your own vertical garden whether it's on a refurbished or new building. Green walling systems are virtually maintenance free. They are easy to install, and can be fixed to most structures including timber, concrete, and steel. Please feel free to browse our site for more creative vertical garden ideas. It's easy to make  something spectacular that both you and your friends will love.