The Garden at 120

• Rooftop Gardens

The Garden at 120 is London’s first publicly accessible roof garden. Set 65 meters above street level it offers amazing 360-degree views and an exclusive retreat for office workers, visitors, local residents and wildlife. The paving on Level 10 is for the office staff but Levels 14 and 15 are open to the public for free.

The scheme designed by the team of Landscape Architects incorporates the best aspects of public spaces, with the challenge of integrating building services. The predominant design elements are the folding paved floors, metal pergola and pre-cast concrete water feature. The extensive areas of Yorkstone paving provide plenty of space to move around in. Bespoke pre-cast concrete planters with integrated timber seating retain the plants and provide space to relax and enjoy the garden and views.

Traditional timber-shuttered concrete walls are dressed with scented flowering climbers and succulent fruit trees. Labyrinthine Buxus hedges provide structure as colourful perennial borders are threaded through with evergreen grasses, ferns and bulbs to provide seasonal interest. The hand-selected mature Wisteria specimens will grow over the pergola structure, marrying hard architectural elements with soft living plants, creating an overhead canopy that will contribute to the overall shading and intimacy of the space.

The faceted building and rooftop structures combined with the curving BMU rail and tectonic paving made the paving layout very intricate with high attention to detail required. A trip to Hamburg approved the use of a German pure-mineral substrate for the first time in the UK. It was used as the growing medium and also installed in compacted layers to a set CBR to ensure the unbound paving remained stable and crisp.