air freshener...

We've just helped our BID team at Better Bankside, who teamed up with Vertical Garden specialists Treebox , Network Rail and Skanska, to bring a 35metre length of green wall to Bankside. Across the street from the Hop Exchange on Southwark Street, the original hoarding has now been transformed from a hard and flat surface to a lush green living wall of ivy, incorporating graphics by to the point.

The area around the Borough High Street / Southwark Street junction sees high traffic volume and as a result can often experience poor air quality. The living wall is being monitored by students from Imperial College, London, to see what impact the planting has on local air quality.

The Mayor of London launched the London Air Quality Strategy in late 2010. Better Bankside hope that this small contribution within Bankside will provide valuable learning and practice that can be replicated elsewhere in London. The living wall also helps to increase the amount of green space in the neighbourhood, again helping achieve Mayoral targets of increasing green cover in London by 5% by 2025.

Valerie Beirne of Better bankside signs off "We know it will help make Bankside become a thriving place to work, visit and live!"