Inspired workforce: Staff in the Landscape Design Centre in Country Garden Group headquarters in Foshan, Guangdong. The writing on the wall means ‘God-given inspiration to build a local brand’.

AS the shuttle van pulled into the hotel driveway that night, somebody from the group commented.

“This is the first time I have to walked pass so many trees and plants in order to get into the hotel entrance.”

Well-travelled, she was, nonetheless, unprepared for the vast man-made tropical forest canopy known as Dream Corridor that greeted her at Country Garden’s headquarters in the suburb of Foshan, about 35km from Guangzhou, in Guangdong, China.

Country Garden’s founder and chairman Yang Guoqiang’s penchant for urban greening is common knowledge among his employees. “It has become the company’s ‘template’ for its projects around the world, if not all, then most,” said one.

But according to another employee, all this comes at a cost.

More green: Vertical greening with a variety of foliage at Country Garden’s headquarters.

“Maintaining the greenery on the walls is a heavy investment. A lot of research into plant suitability is needed,” said an employee, who declined to be named.

According to its June 2017 interim report, the company has about 1,000 projects worldwide, the bulk in China and several in Malaysia, Australia and Indonesia.

Having been a farmer before his involvement in the construction business, Yang, in his early 60s, who also goes by the Cantonese name Yeung Kwok Keung, loves plants and trees.

Hence, the company’s name Country Garden.

Yang’s penchant for urban greening was obvious the next day.

On the 18th floor hotel room, which forms part of the company’s headquarters, dry brittle branches arched over windows, the last remaining leaves swaying gently in the wintry cold.

Creepers and vines dangle from the 19th floor balcony above, some of them trying to creep past window crevices in search of warmth.

Yang is of the view that foliage wrapped around a building has an insulating effect. It keeps the structure warmer in winter and cooler in hot summer months. This helps to reduce carbon emissions and saves on heating and air-conditioning bills.

He once told a reporter: “I have a dream that one day we can live safely in a city where there are no vehicles on the road, the exterior walls of buildings are adorned with plants and parks can be found everywhere so that we can go there for a moment of relaxation on a sunny day, a run or a swim.”

That dream became a reality with the company’s headquarters, which eventually became China’s first ecological building, and the company’s most spectacular greening effort. Its headquarters won an “Award for the Best Office Building Model for Human Settlement” by Ministry of Science and Technology in 2014.

Around the world, as urban contemporary vertical greening becomes more popular, cities are embarking on growing a natural green cover as opposed to glass, steel or bricks as part of a global effort to push back the effects of over development. The effort is part of making cities more sustainable and to return a touch of nature into the built environment.

From Paris to Madrid, Milan to Singapore, some of the world’s fashion capitals and densely populated cities are seriously looking to foliage covered buildings as part of urban renewal.

Vertical greening – the process of planting and maintaining shrubs, creepers, vines and small trees on building walls – has become a blend of art, science and architectural skills.

It is part and parcel of making a city more sustainable, environmentally and visually.

In many ways, vertical greening is part science, part art. And the Country Garden Group, with some 1,000 projects globally, is trying to balance bricks and mortar and nature, if not with some, then most, of their projects.

The vast amount of resources it devotes to greening its walls was obvious during a trip to the Landscape Design Centre in its headquarters in Foshan.

Out of a staff of more than 100,000 globally, 7,000 work in the landscape design department. Of this, 500 are located in the headquarters.

A myriad of plants in bottles, pots and planter boxes decked the place. Pitcher plants dangle from the ceiling while anthuriums flourish in planter boxes.

Staff pour over grafts and design plans, others work their computers moving buildings around digitally as they plan what to plant on different floors.

There is a story going around that if the plants on your table wither, there will be a penalty. Maybe that explains why the plants on every desk are flourishing.

One thing is obvious when working in this office, you have to like plants because you will be working in “a garden” for eight to 10 hours everyday.