Exterior living wall
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Ancoats Mobility Hub
This first-of-its-kind mobility hub puts people and nature at the centre of urban infrastructure.
BACKGROUND
A car park designed to reduce car dependency
What if car parks were built around communities, rather than vehicles? This is the concept behind Ancoats Mobility Hub, a project that combines car and bike parking, a parcel delivery centre, and public green space to support recent residential development.
Manchester aims to be a zero-carbon city by 2038 — 12 years ahead of the national target. A major component of the city’s climate action strategy involves promoting sustainable types of travel. The Mobility Hub was designed to prioritise people over vehicles, centralising car parking in the neighborhood and making it safer to walk and bike.
Aside from 406 car parking spaces, the Hub features:
- 150 bike parking spaces with changing facilities
- 102 electric vehicle charging spaces
- A parcel delivery hub to reduce delivery traffic
- 400 solar panels
- 1,300m2 of public green space
The project team reached out to Viritopia for help with a living wall to support Manchester City Council’s ecological goals and visually convey the Hub’s greater impact. We helped design, engineer, and install vertical greening on the building’s east, west, and south elevations.
“We wanted to embed nature meaningfully into the building and its surrounding public realm. Viritopia were an obvious partner because of their proven delivery on local projects, the strength of their early‑stage input, and their ability to collaborate seamlessly within our Revit environment. Their 3D coordination was invaluable when developing the bespoke façade planters, enabling us to resolve complex details efficiently. Equally important is their commitment to the façade’s maintenance and long-term performance. The result is a series of living walls that significantly elevate the character, biodiversity, and identity of the Hub. We’re extremely pleased with the outcome.”
Buttress Architects
STRATEGY
Bespoke design for the project’s specs
We consulted with the architects to bring their vision to life. For fire safety, we recommended a hybrid modular living wall and planter system. The hybrid solution enabled us to use a diverse plant palette — including vining, bushy, and flowering species — while optimising air ventilation.
The plant palettes blended evergreen (green year-round) and seasonal flowering plants to support pollinators. For the south-facing wall, we focused on “climbers” (plants that grow vines and grow upwards on wooden support poles). For the west elevation, we created a unique design using seven plant species.
We engineered seven custom sizes for the planters to fit the specs of this project and had them custom-built by our partners. The planters were also carefully designed and positioned to help limit lateral fire spread, further reducing overall fire risk. All plants were pregrown in our nursery — including the planters and climbing plants — to offer a finished look from installation day.
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Fire safety tips for green walls on car parks
Car parks have unique ventilation requirements that make living wall design a bit more complex. But adding green walls to car parks isn’t impossible, nor impractical.
On car park schemes, Viritopia prioritises fire safety by:
- Using hybrid green wall solutions to improve ventilation: On Ancoats Mobility Hub, we combined our modular living wall system with planters and climbing plants to improve air flow.
- Creating “gaps” between planters: We often leave certain sections open between planters on car parks to reduce the risk of a fire spreading laterally.
IMPACT
A green space that makes a statement
With 4,612 top-hat modules, 54 half modules, and 144 planters, Ancoats Mobility Hub has an estimated 37,500 plants stretching across the building. Each one supports air quality and local wildlife.
Even more, the development stands as a landmark that embodies Greater Manchester’s commitment to greening. Manchester City Council were thrilled with the development and proud of what it represents.
- Improved air quality
The green walls support Manchester’s zero-carbon goals by extracting CO2 and producing oxygen. - Strong visual identity
The Hub is more than a car park. Its green walls draw focus to the development’s greater purpose. - Habitat creation
The green walls support Manchester’s zero-carbon goals by extracting CO2 and producing oxygen. - Long-term peformance
Viritopia’s ongoing maintenance keeps the façade healthy, securing its long-term ecological impact. - Recognised by the council
Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce shortlisted this project for Building of the Year 2025.
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Ancoats Mobility Hub
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Manchester, UK
This development stands as a blueprint for future mobility hubs, combining sustainability, technology, and community-focused design. The green wall scales the entire height of the eight storey building, with plants carefully chosen for their pollution-absorption, urban tolerance, and year-round flowering. Just one square metre of wall planting can extract 2.3kg of carbon dioxide and produce 1.7kg of oxygen, while also filtering dangerous toxins and microparticles.
Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce
Project gallery
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