Salford’s record breaking sustainable office building reaches completion

The City of Salford is now home to Eden, one of the UK’s most sustainable office buildings, containing Europe’s largest living wall. From the site of a derelict surface car park with no benefits to the people of Salford, English Cities Fund (ECF) has created a 115,000 sq ft development that will transform this neglected urban area into a diverse mixed-use destination and form a key part of ECF’s £1bn regeneration of the Salford Central area.

Eden’s most noticeable design feature is its living wall, which covers over 36,000 sq. ft of the building with over 350,000 plants. This major piece of green infrastructure – the largest living wall in Europe – makes a distinctive contribution to a community short on green spaces. The living wall also removes air pollutants, lowers urban temperatures, and improves biodiversity in Salford.

By providing biophilic health and wellbeing benefits to the occupiers, the wall makes an important contribution to ECF’s aim to embrace the WELL Building Standard principles, seeking to improve human health and wellbeing through design.

Danielle Gillespie, Director of Partnerships and Major Projects at Homes England said: “The completion of the Eden building by English Cities Fund is an important milestone in the transformational regeneration of Salford. This achievement will contribute further to the creation of vibrant new places, jobs, homes, and opportunities across the region. Eden has set new and ambitious standards for future buildings across the country, which will contribute to the quality and sustainability of the built landscape.”