phs Greenleaf won Gold Leaf Award in this year's Leaf Award Ceremony for their installation of a green wall at Getinge in Derby.

Gold Leaf Award

Getinge

phs Greenleaf

Getinge was opening its new global Centre for Excellence in Chemistry and its UK headquarters at St Modwen’s Park, Derby. The building was modern and innovative in keeping with Getinge’s brand, but the team wanted to introduce more elements of biophilia to enhance the well-being and health of those using the building. As a leading medtech company, they understand the importance of plants and nature in an environment and wanted to invest in creating green spaces indoors.

 They wanted a statement piece in their reception lobby, as well as additional green features, to soften the space and create a calm and relaxing environment to welcome visitors. They wanted something impressive, modern and exciting.

With an expansive, tall empty wall in the sunlit lobby, phs Greenleaf proposed a large scale living wall to add a flood of greenery and texture into the space, creating an impressive and inviting welcome to visitors.

phs Greenleaf took the team at Getinge to see a living wall they had installed for another customer in the same area to show them how they believed it could work and the types of plants and irrigation systems used. The customer was instantly impressed and ordered the same wall but on a larger scale.

phs Greenleaf also installed plants in a series of wooden troughs to break up spaces in the building with greenery and tall planters with Ficus to fill the empty window spaces in reception, creating a striking first impression as you arrived outside the building ready for its grand opening.

The wall space in the lobby was broken up by a large staircase and so the living wall had to be designed in 4 different parts to give the illusion of one large living wall which the staircase weaved through. Above the stairs, the two sections of the living wall measured 4m x 1.8m and 4m x 2.3m. Below the stairs, the two corresponding sections of the living wall measured 4m x 4m and 4m x 3m.

The team at Getinge were thrilled with the results, which showcased their modern and innovative ethos whilst introducing a sense of calm and well-being into an otherwise industrial setting.

Getinge were happy to work with our team to develop ideas and innovative solutions.

The living wall was an unusual and challenging project. We worked with supplier Nature’s Green to design a wall that could work in the space in the lobby. With the staircase attached to the wall, the living wall needed to be broken into 4 separate parts and planted in a way to give the illusion of one large continuous living wall that the staircase ‘floated’ through. This also meant that the team had to design four different water points to ensure the wall was properly irrigated.

Installation itself was also challenging as the team had to work on the staircase and at great heights to get the look exactly right. It was a great learning opportunity for the team and the client was impressed by their dedication, ingenuity and professionalism.

Our team leaders from across the UK were part of the installation and were trained in how to install the wall and learn about the irrigation systems. This was a great learning opportunity for them as well as giving us the opportunity to add value to our customer service and further build relationships with the wider team.

The £15 - £30K Design and Installation category was sponsored by Noviflora Plantscaping