Mitie has acquired Biotecture, a specialist in designing, building and maintaining ‘living walls’ which transform indoor and outdoor urban spaces by improving air quality and biodiversity, while also enhancing workspace design.
The acquisition expands Mitie Landscapes’ business to include vertical landscaping, alongside its traditional services and supports its commitment to be the greenest landscaping provider.
Biotecture’s interior living walls are designed to improve indoor workspaces by using plants that are both aesthetically pleasing and also able to remove toxins from the air, without taking up valuable floor space. According to Biotecture living walls “help improve indoor air quality, as plants can reduce CO2 levels by 10-25 per cent, as well as absorbing and reflecting sound for better acoustics”. As well as the physical improvements, Biotecture adds there is also significant evidence that “indoor plants contribute to colleague wellbeing, by creating a more productive and positive work environment”.
Exterior living walls also have significant environmental benefits, including improving local biodiversity, removing air pollution, supporting thermal insulation, and helping to reduce noise levels inside buildings.
Mitie Landscapes offers tailored horticultural and landscaping services, including grounds maintenance, landscaping, gritting and snow clearance, interior office plants and a Christmas decoration service. With its strategy to be the UK’s greenest commercial landscaping provider, the acquisition of Biotecture is part of Mitie’s Plan Zero commitment to reach net zero carbon operational emissions by 2025.
Mitie Landscapes’ new Hub in Hampshire has also been designed with this in mind, and includes ground source heat pumps, water recycling systems and energy efficient lighting, including LED lights which are powered only with renewable energy, to ensure the site is as sustainable as possible.
Tim Howell, Managing Director, Landscapes, Mitie, said: “As more companies realise the benefits of green spaces for both their people and the planet, interest in installing living walls is on the rise. Welcoming Biotecture to the Mitie team ensures we can offer traditional landscaping services whilst also helping customers make the most of their vertical spaces. With this expansion of our services, we’re now even better placed to support a cleaner, greener Britain through the power of plants.”
Biotecture’s Managing Director, Richard Sabin, will be joining Mitie Landscapes’ senior leadership team as part of the acquisition. He commented: “With our shared passion for sustainability, joining Mitie enables UK wide delivery of our innovative green wall systems to an enviable client base. Employee wellbeing, workplace enhancements, better air quality & enriched biodiversity are just some of the benefits that we will focus on. Together we will seek to transform both internal and external environments for the good of people and planet.”
Biotecture’s current clients include JC Decaux, Grosvenor Estates, MTV Viacom, Network Rail, Canary Wharf Management, The Crown Estate and Land Securities.
