THE TOWN centre is starting to reveal green shoots of regeneration as one of the UK’s largest living walls starts to take shape.

Swindon’s town centre facelift takes another step forward this week as installers start work on the positioning of one of the UK’s largest living green walls.

Created as part of the Public Realm works, the green walls have been in development for the last nine months and will form a key part of the new-look Canal Walk.

The foliage will cover the south side of the bridge that connects the Brunel Plaza with the Brunel Arcade and the north side of the vehicle bridge.

Coun Garry Perkins, Swindon Council’s deputy leader, said: “The green wall is something that is genuinely different and we’re going to have one of the first in the country right in the town centre.

“There’s a lot of building work going on in the main shopping area at the moment, but things are coming together fast and I have always said that once it’s all finished, people will really like what they see.”

The installation of the green walls, due for completion by mid-November, is part of the project to rejuvenate the area of Swindon town centre that includes the length of Regent Street from Regent Circus to Jubilee Square and its side streets.

Green walls are living, planted structures that continuously change and evolve as the plants grow and mature within them.

Large vertical faces on the sides of buildings and other structures will become covered by a variety of plants which they hope will provide a changing landscape as the seasons change.

Among the 25 varieties of plants are dryopteris, hosta hallton, purple flowered cyrtomium fotunei and blue and purple flowered viola Queen Charlotte Chichester-based Aldingbourne Nurseries are producing the living walls.

Green walls have been installed at the Westfield Shopping Centre at Shepherd’s Bush, west London, and are becoming popular additions to offices and private residences.

The Regent Street construction is ahead of schedule and is due for completion by mid-November.

For more information visit www.forwardswindon.co.uk.