New Bristol developments accused of ‘greenwashing’

At Wapping Wharf, plans are well underway for a major extension of the area that would see a new “landmark building” containing the restaurants currently in shipping containers.

In one corner of Castle Park meanwhile, a proposed 33-storey residential tower block above the energy centre is set to be part of a development by the city council-owned Goram Homes.

Two very different schemes but with one striking similarity: they both have cascading green terraces that immediately draw the eye.

Promenading Edwardians and cascading greenery have both raised eyebrows around the proposed new tower for Castle Park – image: Groupwork & McGregor Coxall

A recent video from construction experts The B1M asked if this growing trend was just for show, even calling the designs “greenwashing”.

So-called “vertical forests” aim to improve cities by cutting CO2, attracting wildlife and even improving our mental health.

“But when you take off the rose-tinted glasses, just how green are these green skyscrapers?” asked The B1M’s video.

The B1M adds that “architects sticking trees on new buildings is becoming a bit of a joke”.

“So is this just a shallow trick to boost social media or commercial interest in projects and make them feel more sustainable? Or is there a genuinely more noble purpose?”

A new tower at Wapping Wharf North will replace the current shipping containers of Cargo – image: Umberslade

The Wapping Wharf North website promises that there will be “significant” new planting and street trees in both the public as well as private spaces.

“This approach will boost local biodiversity, create shade at street level, regulate the micro-climate and contribute to making the neighbourhood an attractive environment.

“The homes will offer healthy places for people to live, with good access to daylight and fresh air. Everyone will be able to enjoy their own private outside space, in additional to communal gardens.

“The ground level public realm makes up over 30 per cent of the site area and extensive new trees and planting will make this one of the greenest new developments in the city centre.”

Stuart Hatton, the managing director of Wapping Wharf developers Umberslade said that the “principle aim with the whole design of Wapping Wharf North is to create a better place for the people to live and work here as well as for the many visitors who come to our neighbourhood”.

Hatton added: “The extensive landscaped public spaces and planting throughout the development are intended to provide a really pleasant, green environment for people to enjoy, to boost local biodiversity in the city centre and to help tackle the climate crisis.

“We have always invested in high quality public spaces at Wapping Wharf and we are fully committed to delivering our proposals.

“Significant new planting and vegetation is being proposed throughout the development – in street level public spaces, on residential buildings and restaurant terraces, as well as within residents’ shared rooftop and podium gardens.

“Our architects are working with specialist landscape consultants to ensure that the design, installation, irrigation and maintenance of all the vegetation is manageable and viable as it is a key element of the overall design.

“We are taking great care to select appropriate plant species for the local conditions and to ensure they thrive, rainwater and a specially-designed irrigation system will be used.

“Our onsite management team will be responsible for ensuring the planting and public spaces are well maintained, a role they already carry out at Wapping Wharf.

“The planting is only one aspect of the drive for sustainability at Wapping Wharf North, which is being designed into the whole scheme.

“We want to make this something really special for Bristol, so our team are still developing and refining our initial designs, including the landscaping, in response to feedback from consultation with public and stakeholders, before we submit a planning application later this year.”

John Payne from Bristol Civic Society said: “Those supporting the (Wapping Wharf North) development thought the design, from a developer with a successful track record locally, was very interesting and would contribute to the variety of building styles in the area but the vegetation proposed for the walls would need to be very well planned and maintained.”

Commenting on the news on the Civic Society website, H Alexander wrote that the scheme “is heavily reliant on the vertical planting for any quality at all, and it seems unlikely that it would be maintained, or even implemented in the first place”.

The Civic Society are much less sympathetic to the Castle Park scheme.

Society chair Simon Birch described the plans as “a fundamental assault on the appearance of the city and on its visual traditions”.

The new tower above the water source heat pump would ironically block much of the view of Castle Park from Castle Park View – image Groupwork & McGregor Coxall

Architects hope to deliver “a modular and sustainable exemplar development” – image: Groupwork McGregor Coxall

Goram Homes senior development manager, Christiana Makariou, said: “The winning design for Castle Park was based on real world examples, so it’s absolutely possible.

“However, adding greenery alone is not enough to make a building environmentally or ecologically beneficial.

“Our winning design was chosen partly because it’s a carbon neutral building – due to the materials used, proposed levels of insulation and connection to the adjacent energy centre, which contains the country’s largest water source heat pump.

“We also aim to improve the natural environment of our sites by at least 20 per cent, and we’re pleased the see the government mandating all developers to do at least ten per cent from November this year.”

Main image: Umberslade

Read next:

• Proposals for 33-storey tower in Castle Park are ‘assault on Bristol’
• Wapping Wharf shipping containers to be replaced by permanent buildings
• ‘It’s a good design and a welcome addition if it’s just scaled down a bit’

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