Greenheys – Project Instruction
At the beginning of May, we were delighted to be invited to the topping-out ceremony at Manchester Science Park for Bruntwood SciTech’s latest development, Greenheys.
Manchester Science Park is already home to Bruntwood SciTech’s Base and Bright building where we have previously installed biophilic elements, so we’re delighted to be instructed on the Greenheys innovation hub too.
Scheduled for completion in summer 2026, Greenheys will be environmentally enriched by a HYVERT + living wall system, creating a combined total coverage of 1,650 sqm vertical green infrastructure. Three floors of the new state-of-the-art laboratory and workspace will become a purpose built new HQ for UK Biobank.
UK Biobank’s entire external circumference will be encased in our HYVERT + living wall system and optimized even further by our brand new HYVERT.ai system, which will provide real-time reporting directly from the living wall on the environmental benefits it’s delivering to the building and local environment.
We’re recording baseline environmental data for Manchester Metropolitan University to analyse. In particular, atmospheric improvements via solar photovoltaic panels & HYVERT.ai air sensors.
No assumptions made, we will be proving in real time air quality monitoring of PM 2.5, PM10 and NO2 levels to name just a few.
And fittingly for a new Manchester location and HQ, our HYVERT living wall product is still designed, manufactured and grown within 10 miles of the installation.
25% of this HYVERT living wall uses carefully considered plant species including the introduction of wildflower species sourced from SSSI sites in the North West of England, meaning this site will be acting as an urban oasis supporting rare and locally important plants which act as a high quality food source for invertebrates.
This biodiversity data will be captured using eDNA analysis, reinforcing the strength of HYVERT’s Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) performance.
I Want Plants Managing Director, Richard Rowlands said, “we’re immensely proud to be working again with such a pioneering developer like Bruntwood SciTech. This is a monumental project for I Want Plants which also coincides with our fiftieth year in business, making it even more special.
It’s a truly revolutionary green wall project – potentially being the largest sqm living wall coverage on any Bioscience laboratory in Europe!”
Sam Darby, Development Director at Bruntwood SciTech, added: “Having partnered with I Want Plants on a significant number of schemes across our portfolio, we’re excited to be working with them once again on our upcoming Greenheys development, which will provide state-of-the-art work and lab space once complete next summer. I Want Plants’ innovative HYVERT external living wall will be a striking addition to Manchester Science Park and is a brilliant example of how we’re embedding sustainability and wellbeing across our ecosystems, reflecting our continued commitment to creating thriving cities.”
Preliminary planning and design is also underway for the installation of an incredible 115 sqm internally located HYVERT + living wall at Greenheys too. More news to follow in due course.
