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It’s not every day that we get a call from a TV producer, but that’s exactly what happened back in April when one of the team from Alan Titchmarsh’s ‘Love Your Garden’ show rang to talk about a project they were undertaking in Plymouth. We were asked to get involved in the first programme of the new series (which was broadcast last night, 21 June, on ITV1) and when we heard the inspirational story of the recipient, we were absolutely delighted to help and to supply and install a...

When the Royal Horticultural Society asked us to get involved in its ‘Greening Grey Britain’ initiative at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, we answered immediately with a resounding ‘yes’! We believe passionately that flora and fauna have a crucial part to play in urban and suburban areas, with their role potentially becoming even more important as the climate changes and urbanisation continues to impinge on our green spaces. With more pollution and flooding in towns and cities...

When a new green wall is being designed, we are often asked: “How long will it take to grow and mature?” The answer depends on a range of factors, not least, which species of plant are being grown and the specific conditions of the particular site. The variables which need to be considered include: Orientation – how much light and/or shade the plants will receive? Irrigation – how will the plants be watered? Will it be manually, by an automatic irrigation system or by rainfa...

A combination of Jakob stainless steel ropes and rods has been used at Allianz Park, the new home of Saracens Rugby Club, to provide the structure for a green wall to adorn the stadium's timber-clad façade. The renovated stadium was officially opened in February 2013 and was designed to blend seamlessly into its environment. It is the only stadium in the UK to have achieved the coveted BREEAM 'Excellent' standard. The Jakob green wall was installed by Scotscape Ltd and consists of a com...

With Ecobuild 2013 just finished – and thoughts already turning to the 2014 show – we were delighted to meet so many old and new customers at London’s ExCeL arena. Providing a great platform to showcase our range of Jakob products, we were also delighted once again to be invited to contribute to the Ecobuild Arena which was the centrepiece of the main hall. Using combinations of Jakob Webnet and stainless steel wire ropes, the Arena feature showcased the benefits of green walls, demonst...

Green Walls (often called living walls) have been a feature of buildings for many centuries and while the traditional ‘ivy-covered’ façades of Victorian homes have now been replaced by modern, purpose-built systems, they deliver a wide range of benefits to buildings of all type, shape and size: Improved aesthetics Well designed and maintained green walls significantly enhance a building’s appearance - whether it’s to add a new aesthetic dimension, disguise a car park, refresh a tire...

For many years, façade greening was primarily seen as an aesthetic tool. However, whilst green walls still undoubtedly meet that requirement, modern systems deliver a great deal more. Over recent years, as part of a broadly based academic research project in Berlin, scientists have been able to demonstrate that professionally designed green walls also deliver considerable ecological and economic benefits. Large-area greening has been shown to significantly and measurably contribute to passiv...

We were delighted to welcome a wide range of visitors to our stand during Ecobuild, which provided a great platform for us to showcase our range of stainless steel products and solutions. Not only did we have our green wall systems on display on our own stand, but we were also thrilled to play a major part in the design and construction of The Cube which provided the huge, living-wall centrepiece for the show. Interest came from many quarters, with architects, developers, designers, contr...

Chelsea Flower Show gold medal winner, Patrick Collins, was the designer of The Cube which formed the centrepiece of this year’s Ecobuild exhibition, demonstrating a number of Green Wall technologies and systems. The 10x10x8 metre structure provided a great showcase for our own Green Wall systems, perfectly demonstrating their scope, flexibility and elegance - both with and without plants. During the show, Patrick gave a number of media interviews – and can be seen here enthusing about ...

Earls Court 2: Stand Number 1693 Leading Green Wall Systems provider, MMA Architectural Systems is to feature a range of its sustainable solutions at next month’s Ecobuild exhibition, to be held at Earl’s Court on 2 to 4 March. Visitors to Ecobuild will not only be able to view the company’s products and systems on its own stand (number 1693), but also as part of the central Cityscape feature. MMA Director Nikki Errington explained: “We’re delighted to be so closely involved in th...