Sheppard Robson unveils City scheme with ‘largest living wall in Europe’

Sheppard Robson has revealed plans for a mixed-use building in the City of London with the ‘largest living wall in Europe’ wrapped around its façadeUnder the plans Citicape House, an office building on Holborn Viaduct will be demolished to make way for a new ’gateway’ building to the newly-established Culture Mile. The 0.2ha site on the corner of Snow Hill will be developed to provide 3,741m² of office space, a 382-bed hotel with restaurant and bar and a publicly accessible rooftop terrace.The scheme also boasts a 3,700m² living or green wall made up of approximately 400,000 plants, which will cover the entire façade of the building, and a public viewing gallery. The scheme is backed by developer Dominvs Group, which reportedly bought the site in 2017 with existing permission for a hotel designed by Axis Architects. Planning documents lodged with the City of London last week state the existing office block is ’dated and inefficient’ and has been empty for a number of years.The new living cladding system would provide 7 tonnes of fresh air and extract 9 tonnes of CO2 each year and would be the largest in Europe, according to the developer.The National Grid Headquarters, just outside of Warwick, is the current record-holder, boasting a 1,000m² vertical garden wrapped around its power distribution centre.Sheppard Robson has been approached for comment.