Strategy / Invent sustainable solutions

The Ciceo steam plant gets dressed in green

In order to do a better job of integrating the Ciceo steam plant building into the city of Puteaux, Dalkia Ile-de-France is growing plants on its walls.

Mur végétalisé

For some time it has been quite difficult for people going down rue Roque de Fillol in Puteaux to know they are passing in front of the buildings of an impressive steam plant. When they raise their eyes skyward, they no longer see a huge metal wall, as was the case before, but a superb garden of greenery.
In order to do a better job of integrating in the urban environment the building housing its Ciceo steam plant since June 2009, Dalkia Ile-de-France decided to grow plants on a wall 12 meters high by 11 meters wide.

This project is especially original, as explains Véronique Galluccio, head of the agency in La Défense:

"all of the work was carried out over 3 months, during the summer of 2008, by a specialized company that installed 135 modules comprised of 32 locations designed to receive the plants. The plants used are shrubby, perennial, covering and very persistent so the wall remains green year round."

Thanks to the system put in place for upkeep (1 or 2 waterings per week, 1 visit per month, 2 to 3 prunings per year), the garden perfectly fulfils its initiators' expectations.

Thanks to the system put in place for upkeep (1 or 2 waterings per week, 1 visit per month, 2 to 3 prunings per year), the garden perfectly fulfils its initiators' expectations. It is a living picture that creates a real natural effect thanks to its green surface whose color changes over the seasons. The vegetation-covered wall presents other advantages.
In addition to its sound absorbing qualities, it favors the attachment of atmospheric dust and pollen. It also constitutes an appreciable source of oxygen while filtering many atmospheric pollutants responsible for greenhouse gases.
In order to go even further in the Ciceo steam plant's integration, Dalkia recently installed a "horizontal" garden on the building's roof that offers visitors (children in particular) an educational itinerary on the themes of protecting nature and renewable energies.

"This project's success is proof that today the installation of industrial structures should be planned jointly with the living environment of the people who will benefit from it and who are its users," concludes Véronique Galluccio.