Sky Garden, London

Background

As any gardener will tell you, managing a diverse range of plants that are both practical and visually arresting is not without its challenges – particularly in the centre of London. However, the challenges become more acute when you are caring for and cultivating plant and tree life on the 35th floor of one of London’s most iconic skyscrapers, all under the watchful eye of the general public.

The Project

From the start of 2021, idverde has been maintaining and improving Sky Garden at 20 Fenchurch Street (sometimes known as the walkie-talkie building) on appointment by CBRE. In addition to creating a wow factor at London highest public garden, idverde also maintain the external landscaping and London’s largest living wall.

Our Role

Arriving on-site in January 2021, the garden had seriously deteriorated from a combination of reduced service and severe damage from the cold temperatures. Lockdown provided an opportunity for idverde to replenish and reinvigorate the garden. This took the form of an initial six-week plan that included the following:

• Pruning all damaged planted and removing any dead species
• Replanting using dramatic, exciting cultivars
• Twice weekly treatment of all pests and diseases
• Hand-picking all dead leaves
• Hand cleaning all plant leaves so they are free from pests
• Pruning the dense crown on the large Ficus nitida trees
• Thinning out all plant species where they had been allowed to become overgrown
• Re-aligning each individual tree fern mister so it watered the crown
• Re-staking all trees
• Mulching the entire landscape using 200 bags of a premium grade mulch

Living wall

While most people know about the garden in the sky, what may surprise many is that 20 Fenchurch Street is also home to London’s largest living wall. A living wall is a biodiversity-friendly wall made from plants that provide the space with pleasing aesthetics and improved air quality. Situated outside the main entrance to 20 Fenchurch Street, idverde supports the maintenance of the 712m2 living wall and its irrigation system, working hand in hand with Biotecture, who created the wall using an industry-leading patented system.

Challenges

The most obvious challenge is the fact that the majority of the work is undertaken 500 feet off the ground. In this environment, air and temperature, already crucial factors in a tropical garden, take on added significance.

Speak to the team on the ground and they will tell you that the biggest temperature challenge came as an indirect result of the Covid pandemic. The lack of visitors to the site and the reduced activity from the offices and restaurants in the building meant that the temperature of the garden itself fell significantly. The team had to adapt to this to try and save plants from dying, while carefully monitoring for the slightest temperature change which could fatally impact recuperating plants. Thankfully, the plant came through relatively unscathed.

Working 35 floors up is also not for the faint-hearted, and storage space for landscape and maintenance is a low priority when the stars of the show are the plant life and the view, therefore idverde had to be careful in the delivery of materials so that only enough was brought in for each day.

As the planting is all sub-tropical, and across different layers and heights, a sophisticated and vast irrigation and water system is required to prevent both the pooling of water, flooding and just the right amount of water for many of these species.

The site is now back open to the public, so it must be maintained under that gaze. Maintaining some of the UK’s premier sites, from Regent’s Park to the Manchester City football facilities, idverde’s team are well trained in supporting the public with information and are open to questions about what they are doing.