1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Budapest
Region
Europe
Native title of the NBS intervention
Zöldfal, Eiffel Palace Irodaház
Short description of the intervention
The 53 square meters large green wall can be found in an office building in the center of Budapest. (Reference 9) It helps to balance the humidity indoors, cleans the air and provides a comfortable work environment. The project includes rainwater collection for the irrigation of the green wall. (Reference 6) The building itself was the first one in Central-Eastern Europe to gain the double environmental certification of BREEAM Very Good and LEED Gold. (Reference 9) The focus of the NBS are the indoor green walls, but the building itself also features vegetation on multiple terraces and sun collectors. (Reference 10)
Address

Budapest
Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út 78
1055
Hungary

Location
Point location, which indicates where the NBS takes place
NBS area
53.00m²
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Building
Website of the intervention
http://eiffelpalace.hu/az-epulet/
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
2011
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2013
End date of the intervention
2014
Present stage of the intervention
Completed
Goals of the intervention
The goal of implementing the green walls was to balance humidity inside the building and to produce oxygen, thus creating a comfortable atmosphere to work in. (Reference 1)
Quantitative targets
unknown
Monitoring indicators defined
unknown
Sustainability challenge(s) addressed
Environmental quality
Air quality improvement
Health and well-being (SDG 3)
Improving mental health
Please specify "other Type of NBS project"
Environmentally friendly refurbishment of a building
Implementation activities
As part of the development of the office building, two 12 m wide and 3,5 m high green walls were implemented that overall size is 53 square meter. The investors planted tropical plant species that are common in Hungary in indoor areas and species with a high degree of air purification effect. (Reference 1)
The green walls are watered automatically with greywater that is collected to irrigate the green walls and to manage stormwater.
Type of NBS project
Creation of new green areas
NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Nature in buildings (indoor)
Green walls and ceilings
Atriums/Courtyards
Type of Green Wall
Hydroponic living wall (soil-less)
Type of Green Roof
Semi-intensive Green Roof: depth 5 - 7 inches; plants: Selected Perennials, Sedums, ornamental Grasses, Herbs and little Shrubs; Medium maintenance and costs
Vegetation Type
Flower beds
Amenities offered by the NBS
Unknown
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Regulating services
Air quality regulation
Cultural services
Aesthetic appreciation
Mental and physical health and wellbeing
Scale
Spatial scale
Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Beneficiaries
Primary Beneficiaries
Private sector/Corporate/Company
Other
Please specify "other primary beneficiary"
corporate renters of the offices and employees of the corporations
Governance
Governance arrangements
Led by non-government actors
Non-government actors
Private sector/Corporate/Business
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
Two companies worked together for the refurbishment of the building. The development was carried out by Horizon Development, the construction work was carried out by DVM Group. (Reference 6)
Key actors - initiating organization
Private sector/corporate actor/company
Land owners
Private sector or company
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
Private sector/corporate actor/company
Land owners
No information found
Participatory methods/forms of community involvement used
Unknown
Policy drivers
NBS intervention implemented in response to an Regional Directive/Strategy
Unknown
NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan
Yes
Please specify the national regulations/strategy/plan
- Étv. (Építési törvény - Building Code): 1997. évi LXXVIII. tv. 62.
- OTÉK (Országos Településrendezési és Építési Követelmények - National Building Regulations): 253/1997. (XII. 20.) Kormány rendelet
NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan
Unknown
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Voluntary (spontaneous)
Please specify other type of voluntary intervention
It was a target of goal of the investors that Eiffel Palace would be built in accordance with two rating system of sustainable buildings, with BREEAM and with LEED. The two rating systems determined the overall sustainable quality of the building. The building got Very Good certification in BREEAM and Gold certification in LEED (Reference 2) The green wall falls in the criteria of health and well-being in the case of BREEAM (Reference 3) and the criteria of health and human experience in the case of LEED (Reference 4).
Enablers
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS vision/strategy/plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS section/part in a more general plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of GI / NBS research project - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Subsidies/investment for GI / NBS in the city - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Co-finance for NBS
Unknown
Co-financing governance arrangements
Unknown
Was this co-governance arrangement already in place, or was it set up specifically for this NBS?
Unknown
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?
unknown
What are the total amount of expected annual maintenance costs?
unknown
What is the expected annual maintenance costs of the NBS or GI elements?
unknown
Please specify cost savings
unknown
Please specify total cost (EUR)
unknown
Source(s) of funding
Corporate investment
Type of fund(s) used
Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Business models
None of these
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Private for-profit actor (e.g. firm, insurer)
Type of innovation
Technological
Process innovation
Please specify technological innovation
The inside green wall is watered with the grey water generated in the office building (Reference 5).
Novelty level of the innovation
The innovation is copied/derived from previous initiative(s) without substantial adaptation
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
Green Fortune, the Swedish company that built the green wall, had similar projects in many different countries all over the world. Altogether, they had built more than 70 plant walls in Sweden, the Netherlands, Dubai, Finnland, Germany, Poland, Japan, China and Russia before the wall in the Eiffel Palace Office Building was implemented (Reference 8).
Replicability/Transferability
The innovation is transferred to new initiative(s) without substantial adaptation
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
Since the implementation of the green wall in the Eiffel Palace Office Building, Green Fortune has continued to build green walls (Reference 8).
Impacts, benefits
Environmental impacts
Environmental quality
Improved air quality
Water management and blue areas
Improved stormwater management
Description of environmental benefits
Eiffel Palace's green wall came third on the 2014 "best indoor green wall of the year" prize, for its benefits "increasing humidity and supplying oxygen to the interior". The submitted application for this prize also lists that the project addresses water management by using rainwater only for irrigation. (Reference 1)
Economic impacts
Attraction of business and investment
Description of economic benefits
Before the building was renovated, it was empty. Now, 15,400 square meters of rentable areas are occupied by offices of often very important companies, such as the British Chamber of Commerce in Hungary and PwC Hungary. (Reference 6)
Social and cultural impacts
Unknown
Description of social and cultural benefits
The project aimed at creating a comfortable work environment for better mental health, but there is no information available regarding the results of that effort.
Type of reported impacts
Expected impacts
Achieved impacts
Indicators
unknown
Environmental, social and economic impacts
Water management (SDG 6)
Stormwater and rainfall management and storage
Environmental quality
Air quality improvement
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
No information available
Negative impacts: Did the project cause any problems or concerns?
No information was found regarding negative impacts of the project
COVID-19 pandemic
Unknown as of July 2020.
Methods of impact monitoring
Process of recording NBS impacts
No evidence in public records
Methods used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Not applicable
Evidence for use of assessment
Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Impact assessment mechanism
Name of any specific impact assessment tools
unknown
Use of GIS in mapping impacts
No evidence in public records
Citizen involvement
Citizens involvement in assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Unknown
References
Web links relevant to the intervention
Reference 1: Goals
Reference 2: Az Eiffel Palace irodaház. Építészfórum
Reference 3: BREEAM
Reference 4: LEED V4
Reference 5: The greenest project of the year
Reference 6: Eiffel Palace Official Website
Reference 7: Eiffel Palace Official Website, Gallery
Reference 8: Green Fortune
Reference 9: Eiffel Palace, Budapest
Reference 10: Sustainability
Documents relevant to the intervention
Attachment Size
Reference1: Goals (1.27 MB) 1.27 MB
List of references
1. DVM Design Kft. (2014). Az év zöldfala pályázat: Eiffel Palace Irodaház. [image] Available at: http://zeosz.hu/dijazott-zoldtetok-es-zoldfalak/. [Accessed: 19.06.2020].
2. Gelesz, A. (2014). Az Eiffel Palace irodaház. Építészfórum. [online] Available at: http://epiteszforum.hu/az-eiffel-palace-irodahaz [Accessed: 19.06.2020].
3. Wikipedia.org. (2017). BREEAM. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BREEAM [Accessed: 19.06.2020].
4. Usgbc.org. (2017). LEED V4. [online] Available at: http://www.usgbc.org/leed-v4 [Accessed: 19.06.2020].
5. Azevirodaja.hu. (2014). Eiffel Palace Irodaház: Az Év Legzöldebb Projektje 2014 - I. helyezett. [online] Available from: http://azevirodaja.hu/nevezok/149 [Accessed: 19.06.2020].
6. Eiffelpalace.hu., (2017). Eiffel Palace's Official Website: The Building. [online] Available at: http://eiffelpalace.hu/en/the-building/. Accessed: 19.06.2020].
7. Eiffelpalace.hu., (2017). Eiffel Palace's Official Website: Gallery. [image] Available at: http://eiffelpalace.hu/en/gallery/. [Accessed: 19.06.2020].
8. Greenfortune.hu. (2017). The Official Website of Green Fortune. [online] Available at: http://www.greenfortune.hu/. [Website unavailable in 2020].
9. Wisy.de. (2014) Eiffel Palace, Budapest. [online]. Available at: https://wisy.de/en/referenzen/references/eiffel-palace-budapest [Accessed: 14.07.2020]
10. Eiffelpalace.hu. (year unknown). Sustainability. Available at: http://eiffelpalace.hu/en/the-building/sustainability/ [Accessed: 14.07.2020]
Additional comments
The building addresses sustainability in many other ways apart from the green wall, but because Green Wall is the title of the project, I tried to focus on the green wall itself and mentioned apart from the wall only the rainwater collection system which was put in place to irrigate the green wall.
Comments and notes
Comments
I haven't got answer to my emails.
Pictures of the NBS
/sites/default/files/nbs/images/reference7_image.jpg
Public Images
Green Wall: Eiffel Palace Office Building
Green Wall: Eiffel Palace Office Building
Photographer: Kadar V. (2014), retrieved 07/19/2018 from Ildikó Rezmuves
Green Wall: Eiffel Palace Office Building
Green Wall: Eiffel Palace Office Building (2014)
Photographer: Kadar V. (2014), retrieved 07/19/2018 From Ildikó Rezmuves