Exterior living wall
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Longcross Park Data Centre
Green data centres treat sustainability as a project driver, not an afterthought. At Longcross Park, biodiversity and environmental performance shaped the scheme from the early stages of design.
BACKGROUND
New Surrey data centre aiming for BREEAM Excellent
Ark Data Centres delivers and operates sustainable, high-performance data centres across the UK. They intended for their new site in Surrey to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating — a credential reserved for top new builds (as measured by sustainable value).
BREEAM ratings consider factors including:
- Low environmental impact design
- Carbon emissions reduction
- Adaption to climate change
- Ecological value and biodiversity protection
This target required a meaningful biodiversity strategy. The project team elected to maximise the scheme’s vertical space with a living wall, and brought in Viritopia to design and deliver the data centre’s green wall.
STRATEGY
Creating a biodiversity-focused, carbon-conscious green wall
Early design concepts explored a wire trellis system with climbing plants. However, wires and climbers were not suitable for the project’s sustainability and planning objectives, for several reasons:
- Time requirement: Vining plants can take years to establish and fully cover a façade.
- Reduced coverage: Coverage is often uneven or sparse, limiting visual and environmental impact.
- Limited biodiversity gain: Wire-based systems restrict the plant palette, reducing overall biodiversity potential.
For the greatest impact upon installation, the team decided on a soil-based modular living wall system for the data centre. Soil substrate supports a wide range of plant species, offers habitat for nesting insects, and captures particulate matter to improve air quality.
Early planning and coordination allowed us to eliminate the need for a support frame on the building’s façade. We fixed the living wall modules directly to the skin of the Euroclad Rainspan wall panels using the sandwich panel build-up as shown in the diagram. Removing a steel frame layer offers many benefits for living wall projects:
- Carbon savings (by reducing material requirements)
- Time savings (by streamlining the construction programme)
- Cost savings (by enabling a more efficient build)
Finally, we designed the plant palette to perform consistently and deliver a cohesive appearance across four elevations. Our palettes included several species that offer ecological value, such as silene (which is great for pollinators) and hedera helix ‘Glacier’ (an evergreen that produces berries in winter for birds).
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Which types of cladding are compatible with Viritopia's living wall system?
Viritopia’s living wall system has been performance-tested with a range of cladding providers including Euroclad, Trimo, and CA Group. Working with our pre-tested product integration partners helps us ensure compatibility of materials from the design stage and streamline build programmes.
IMPACT
Immediate plant coverage and ecological impact
Our horticulturalists planted our modules offsite. By the time of installation, the plants were fully established and provided dense coverage across 743m² of the façade.
We tended to the plants until onsite irrigation systems were fully operational — a testament to the resilience of soil-based living wall systems, as other systems carry a high risk of failure without constant water supply. Today, Viritopia provides regular maintenance to keep the wall healthy and thriving.
- BREEAM contribution
The green wall was a key component in the scheme achieving BREEAM Excellent. - Carbon savings
By removing the need for a steel frame, the emissions associated with the project were reduced. - Streamlined build
Early cladding coordination supported an efficient build programme.
“We’re proud to share a glimpse of the vibrant green wall installed on our data centre site in Surrey. This living feature is a standout element of the recently completed energy centre and ancillary buildings. A huge thank you to Viritopia for their invaluable support in bringing this beautiful green wall to life.”
Sweet Project
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Longcross Park Data Centre
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Surrey, UK
“Longcross Park embodies Ark’s drive for zero-carbon data centres, deploying the latest innovations in advanced air cooling to cut energy wastage. It offers living walls, EV facilities, and industry leading PUE.”
Ark Data Centres
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