INNOVATION
Moss-covered concrete for
Respyre’s ‘moss walls’ could be an attractive proposition for businesses in the West End, particularly due to their resilience to climate fluctuations – increasingly a consideration of businesses who must adapt to periods of extreme heat and cold throughout the year.
efficient greening
Respyre has developed a low-maintenance solution for applying greenery to buildings and urban infrastructure
O ne of the challenges when implementing green walls is the fact that property owners often underestimate or do not factor in ongoing maintenance costs. Mosses – part of a hardy group of plants known as bryophytes – could help to address this problem by offering a low- cost, low-maintenance solution for adding greenery to vertical surfaces. Mosses have low nutrient requirements and a high tolerance for ‘desiccation’ – the removal of moisture during drought. And, Dutch startup Respyre has created moss wall and roof products that make the most of these benefits. Using mostly recycled materials, such as reactivated cement and granulate rubble, the company creates a concrete mixture that provides an optimum environment for moss to grow on. A bio-enhancing gel that moss spores can attach to is then used to coat the concrete surface. This approach can be applied, not only to buildings, but also to other urban structures such as overpasses and bridges. Respyre recently released two main products: VertiScape, a facade product,
and a moss roof tile. Use cases for VertiScape include a plaster solution for retrofitting existing walls. This works best with ‘stone-like’ materials such as concrete, bricks, and, of course, stone itself. Crucially for the greening of city centres, the plaster can be used to restore historic buildings. For new builds, VertiScape is available as pre-cast concrete panels and walls. The roof tiles, meanwhile, make it possible to create horizontal moss landscapes for rooftops. Also suitable for both renovation and new construction, the tiles form a single- layered cladding element of a roof upon which a moss layer can grow. Currently, the Respyre suite of products is commercially available in the Netherlands and Belgium, with wider availability planned for the future.
Crucially for the greening of city centres, the plaster can be used to restore historic buildings
‘Moss walls’ are exciting because they offer multiple benefits including cleaner air, enhanced insulation, improved water retention, and a lowered risk of surface water flooding. But in addition to this, they are also easy to maintain. In Respyre’s case, a temporary irrigation system is only required for around 12 weeks during the earliest stages of growth, after which the fully grown moss becomes self- sustaining and highly resilient. During dry conditions, moss goes dormant only to spring back to life once re-hydrated, and it can also survive winter cold snaps.
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