Green Wall for Auckland City gets the go ahead

Media release
15 November 2011
Green Wall for Auckland City gets the go ahead

A Green Wall project from the Committee for Auckland’s Future Leaders Programme has received a funding boost from Fuji Xerox to bring it to life.

The Future Auckland Leaders Programme taps into the energy and insight of the city’s emerging leaders, cultivating their passion for Auckland and helping channel it into city-enhancing projects. Every two years, Future Auckland Leaders unveil their projects to the broader Committee for Auckland membership.

Three of the four 2011 legacy projects are focused on showcasing Auckland as a tourism asset for residents and visitors alike. The transformation of existing buildings and streets is well aligned with the Auckland Council’s Central City Master Plan which includes encouraging more pedestrian areas in the inner city and the greening of Auckland’s city-scape. The most overt example of this is a green wall project: 90DegreeVert.

Vertical Gardens or green walls are 'living pieces of art' that transform urban environments from 'concrete jungles' to lush environmentally and aesthetically improved urban landscapes. 90 DegreeVert is working with Greenroofs New Zealand and international company Maccaferri to create a vertical garden on the concrete balustrade wall of the Ellen Melville hall in Freyberg Place, Central Auckland.
The project team has also partnered with Enviroschools and Ngati Whatua O Orakei to assist in planting the 15 square metre green wall which will include more than 1000 plants at an estimated cost of $24,000.
The installation has received funding from Waitemata Local Board and corporates such as The Fletcher Construction Company, The Beca Group and Boffa Miskell. The green wall was $5000 short of its financial target until Committee for Auckland member, Neil Whittaker of Fuji Xerox stepped up with a donation at the Future Leaders graduation ceremony on November 8th..

Mr Whittaker says that he is delighted to assist in bringing the green wall to life. “As someone who has recently joined the Committee I have been impressed with the range of projects they undertake to improve Auckland. The Future Leaders programme is an excellent example of people working together to make Auckland a great place to live and work and I have snapped up the last place for the 2012 intake for an exceptional staff member at Fuji Xerox. As a company we are passionate about leadership and the environment which makes a partnership with 90 DegreeVert more than just an act of philanthropy” he says.