Project Overview

The Greenwall Company are proud to bring to you the next advancement in green roof technology - the EcoPillow. Modular in design, the EcoPillow is a pre-grown living roof that offers all the proven benefits of a green roof while radically reducing risk and cost of the roofing structure.

The EcoPillow structure and the growing medium were developed for their lightweight properties, making the EcoPillow just 60kg/m2. Creating a lightweight and modular product were the design priorities.

The EcoPillow can also be easily relocated, further enhancing its adaptability.

As a pre-grown, and fully encased product, the EcoPillow is incredibly quick to install and reduces the risk of failure from extreme weather conditions, wind scour or rain erosion. The semi mature plants provide cover from day one, reducing establishment time, and the likelihood of weed invasion – the two primary drivers of maintenance cost.

With 94% of the materials recycled it is an innovative way to take waste products destined for Australian landfill to reduce our carbon footprint.

Organisation

The Greenwall Company

Team

The EcoPillow was designed by Mark Paul owner and founder of The Greenwall Company. Mark is a qualified horticulturalist with over 25 years greenwall and green roof experience.

Mark’s plant knowledge and planting design stem from a childhood/lifelong passion for lithophytic and epiphytic plants, and their habitats. Originally training as a Marine Biologist and working for the CSIRO, Mark worked intimately with their habitats, enabling him to successfully design and create a system that was not only energy efficient but long lasting.

Due to Mark’s designs, The Greenwall Company can pride themselves on building their walls from 94 per cent of recyclable materials that would otherwise be destined for Australian landfill, taking the benefit of their greenwalls and green roofs beyond just their aesthetic appeal.

Mark’s original test greenwall is still thriving today and is a direct result of his experience and understanding of plant biomechanics and their simple requirement for water, light and nutrition.

Mark has also launched a community project with schools in Australia and Brasil called the PET Bottle Greenwall Project. This initiative sees students, teachers, parents and Mark work together to create their own PET bottle greenwall made out of recycled bottles and plant cuttings from their own homes. The first school was a great success with others already lining up to get on board.

At the end of the day, Mark’s objective is reclaim the built environment by greening as many areas as he possibly can with the end goal being a ‘green city’.

Mark has worked with a variety of professions to assist in this project, from engineers, steel fabricators, architects, and his installation team to install various EcoPillows.

Project Brief

“The EcoPillow” takes waste products destined for Australian landfill and turns it into an environmental benefit. There are multiple benefits to a greenwall /roofs including:

Lightweight. TheEco Pillow weighs less than 60kg/m2 planted, grown in and storm saturated at 110mm, depth (comparative substrate weight only examples are, soil up to 150kg/m2. Sand up 200kg/m2)

Internationally, and here in Australia, the trend towards ‘greening’ buildings is gaining momentum. Green roofs not only radically reduce stormwater runoff and therefore the cost of disposal, they also provide greater insulation for a building, prolong the life of the roof membrane and reduce noise penetration.

Lighter, faster, with less risk, The EcoPillow by The Greenwall Company is a no brainer for anyone wanting the benefits of green roofs for a wider range of projects and budgets.

Project Innovation / Need

Installing a green roof makes a valuable contribution to the external environment, reducing water run off, and providing an inhabitable environment to promote biodiversity. They are also great to look at and use, increasing the worth of the real estate they are on and viewed by.

Adaptable. Variety of ecopillow depths and percentages of cover, (for example you can apply in strips/bands to reduce the weight and cost loads), depending on nature of living roof planting, also particularly suited to highly biodiverse plantings.

Low Risk. Pre-grown and encased in a recycled polyester pillow slip means lowest risk of failure from wind scour of loose media or washouts/blowouts from storm events

Lowest life cost. Semi mature plants can give up to 100% coverage from day of installation, slashing maintenance cost and establishment while minimising seed and weed invasion.

Monolithic root zone. Roots quickly penetrate neighbouring ecopillows allowing transfer of moisture nutrients and beneficial micro-organisms and enhance plant health.

Bound root zone. Protects from wind uplift.

Design Challenge

The EcoPillow came about because of a market need to use Australian landfill in an innovative way. The Eco-Pillow has an immediate benefit of not only natural beauty of the area covered, but more importantly each of the panels ability to reduce the carbon footprint.

Sustainability

There are many dimensions to sustainability, tell us your approach. It might have been local sourcing, reusing materials, using new materials, having a lower carbon foot print or being economically sustainable. All count and are important.
“Greenroof EcoPillows” incorporate Best Management Practise to reduce and often eliminate storm water run-off, saving money and environmental damage. They also:
• Reduce noise
• Creates Habitat possibilities, wildlife corridors,biodiversity conservation
• Insulation of spaces beneath
• Increase Lifespan of roofing membrane
• With sensitive design, “EcoPillows” can be used as wetlands to strip nutrients
• Reduces landfill waste,established ecopillows can even be moved/recycled to another roof

The dream of sustainable design is now a reality!