With its industrial past, Greater Manchester is renowned for its innovative new ideas – from the atomic theory to the first passenger railway, graphene to Vimto – and now cutting-edge, green buildings. Salford has welcomed a new building to its skyline, known as Eden, situated at New Bailey and it is one of the UK’s most sustainable office buildings.
The £36 million, 115,000 sq ft 12-storey office building, developed by The English Cities Fund (ECF), was once the site of a derelict surface car park with no benefits to the people of Salford. However, Eden’s most noticeable design feature is its living wall, which covers over 36,000 sq ft of the building with over 350,000 plants built into its walls.
With the largest living wall in Europe, this major piece of green infrastructure makes a key contribution to a community short on green spaces. The plants which adorn the curved façade of the Salford building include English Thyme which is good for air quality, St John’s Wort as a source of nectar and berries for birds and Bluebell which is an early source of nectar.
Starting as young plugs no bigger than a thumbnail, these plants have been nurtured and cultivated over six months at a nursery in West Sussex before they became part of Eden’s exterior. This approach not only saved costs but also ensured the plants’ resilience, making them better equipped to thrive in their new home.
Now complete, the living wall at Eden uses natural soil over hydroponics and thus provides several environmental benefits to its local Salford area. These include a significant increase in biodiversity, providing habitats for various wildlife, removing toxins from the atmosphere, and improving the building’s thermal performance.
The benefits of the living wall on Eden include removing air pollutants, lowering urban temperatures, and improving biodiversity in Salford. By connecting the occupiers of the building with the natural environment, the wall makes an important contribution to ECF’s aim to embrace the WELL Building Standard principles, seeking to improve human health and wellbeing through design.
But the living wall is not the only feature that makes Eden sustainable. The developers of Eden also took steps to produce as little carbon emissions as possible, with ECF and its partners reusing and reducing materials as much as possible. This included repurposing former gymnasium flooring from the University of Central Lancashire for Eden’s lobby area.
When it comes to amenities for those using the office space, Eden has space to store 150 cycles as well as changing rooms for commuters. You’ll also find a wellness suite on the mezzanine, complete with treatment rooms and a studio, plus a rooftop terrace.
The Salford building is designed using the UK Green Building Council’s 2030 – 2035 standards and has the capability to run on 100% renewable electricity. Plus, it has scooped up a number of accolades such as having the highest NABERS UK Design Reviewed Target Rating for new-build development in the UK to date – in other words, it’s showing up a lot of the country’s buildings because of its green brilliance and eco-conscious design.
With this latest arrival in the city, you could say Salford is showing a lot of growth. For more information about Eden, head to their website here.