Claiming over 4 million lives worldwide every year1, outdoor air pollution is the silent, invisible killer slowly infecting cities and urban spaces. With more than 2,000 locations across the UK having levels of air pollution that exceed safe limits2, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the issue a “public health emergency” with immediate action needed to save lives both now and in the future.
Caused by a toxic combination of increasing road traffic, idling cars and urbanisation, dirty air is putting the next generation in the UK’s capital at the most risk. Research from WHO revealed that every school in London breaches safe air pollution limits, with children being exposed to some of its most dangerous forms. Clogging up cities and lungs, these invisible particles are linked to respiratory diseases and shortening lifespans and are often the unwelcome by-product of many schools being located near busy main roads.
However, the war against dirty air is gaining momentum and some schools and parents are fighting back by taking the issue into their own hands and gaining national recognition for it. This was the issue facing St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Chiswick, with parents turning to plants to create a greener, cleaner future for their children.
Clogging up
Located in Chiswick near the A4, a major six lane road, the issue of air pollution hit home for St Mary’s when a survey in 2017 revealed the school was among the top 50 most polluted schools in London. Andrea Carnevali, a parent at St Mary’s and the man behind the ‘Chiswick Oasis’ project said:
“It’s scary to think that our children are breathing in toxic air simply by going to school – a place that is supposed to be safe – and the survey results really shocked us into taking immediate action.
“As parents, we got together and asked the question – what do we do? It was obvious that we needed to make some significant changes if we want to improve the air quality for our children and that we needed to do it quickly.”
Launching the Chiswick Oasis project in 2018, with the aim of creating cleaner, greener air at the school, the parents rallied into action and batted around possible solutions, from air purifiers to non- toxic paint. However, they saw the biggest opportunity externally in the school’s neglected playground area, with its 126m perimeter wall running right alongside the polluted A4 road.
Andrea said:
“A living wall was mentioned as a possible solution, and the more we looked into it, the more we realised the power that plants could have in not only cleaning the air, but in also bringing the rarely used space back to life and opening it up to the public as a green space. However, while not being the easiest option, we knew we needed help from the public and local community to raise the funds to help bring this idea to life.”
Plant power
Setting up a crowdfunding initiative, the Chiswick Oasis Project received an overwhelming amount of public and local community backing, raising in excess of £90,000, along with winning celebrity support from the likes of Jeremy Paxman and Claudia Winkleman. The initiative also received £32,000 in funding from the London Mayor’s ‘Crowdfund for London’ programme.
Andrea said:
“We knew that we needed expert guidance to help us make the living wall a reality. This included making sure we were choosing the best plants to improve air quality, as well as ensuring it was simple to maintain and keep alive! We also wanted a wall filled with variety, colours and smells, as many other similar projects usually only contained ivy type plants.”
The Chiswick Oasis group approached ANS Global, the world’s leading supplier of external and internal living walls, with Urban Environment Consultant, Steve McIntyre offering his expert guidance.
“We immediately saw the opportunity for a living wall to make a positive impact on air quality at the school, with the right plants able to remove toxins in exchange for clean, fresh oxygen,” Steve commented.
Often featuring lush foliage, flowers and grasses, living walls utilise the power of plants to create vertical gardens which work to clean the air by filtering out harmful pollutants. Steve says:
“We worked with the school to select a specific plant palette, many of which were indigenous to the local area, which would not only purify the air, but also support biodiversity and local wildlife – giving it the added benefit of being an interactive learning tools for pupils.
“Our bespoke modular system means that the wall has been designed to thrive for the long term, and with an automatic irrigation system, it also requires little maintenance. As well as being relatively simple to install, our system also ensures that there is also no waiting around for plant growth, with the living wall’s lush foliage visible from day one.”
Urban oasis
Installed in June 2019 by ANS Global, the living wall spans the perimeter wall of the playground and features over 12,000 plants. It was officially opened at a launch event by London Mayor, Sadiq Khan. The Mayor used the event as an opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of improving urban air quality, as well as highlighting the value of community projects like Chiswick Oasis.
Transforming the playground area into a lush urban oasis, the new green area will also be open to members of the public, as well as playing host to future community events.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan – whose Crowdfund London initiative pledged £32,000 to the project – said:
“I am delighted to officially open the ‘Chiswick Oasis’ for the community who have done so much to bring this project to life.
“Our toxic air is a public health crisis that increases the risk of dementia and asthma and damages the lung development of our children. I’m doing all I can to tackle it but I can’t succeed without the support of my fellow Londoners. ‘Chiswick Oasis’ is a brilliant example of what can be achieved when communities work together to find innovative solutions to local problems and exactly the sort of project OUR Crowdfund London initiative was set up to support.”
ANS Global has committed to maintaining the wall for free for the next five years and has already provided training to teachers and parents at the school, explaining in more detail how the living wall works. Steve said:
“It is fantastic to be involved in the St Mary’s Chiswick Oasis project, which address the issue of improving air quality in urban environments.
“Research has shown that just green infrastructure can filter out up to 95% of the pollution created by vehicles3, which demonstrates the true power of plants. We hope that Chiswick Oasis is the catalyst for more schools to learn about living walls, which have the potential to make a positive impact on people’s lives and health.”
Andrea has no plans to stop the work into improving air quality at the school in the future saying:
“We are also tackling indoor air quality by adding more plants, painting the school’s ground floor in air purifying paint and installing air purifiers. We are still raising funds to extend the living wall vertically, so it covers the whole playground wall, and we have also launched weekly ‘No Car Friday’ initiatives to encourage parents and children to walk to school.
“As well as tackling the issue of sound and air pollution, living walls will also hopefully help to improve the general psychological wellbeing of children and staff, with research showing that having access to greenery can make people feel happier.
“We are very grateful of the support we have received so far. We are not just transforming one of the most polluted schools in London into one of the greenest, but I’d like to think that we’re also creating a model to inspire other schools.”
To donate or to find out more about the Chiswick Oasis project visit: www.chiswickoasis.com
To find out more about ANS Global visit: www.ansglobalgroup.com