Don't throw out your plants!

Recent budget plans suggest Government Departments will be cutting spending on interior landscaping or removing plants entirely from offices.Thomas Palfreyman, chairman of eFIG (the European Federation of Interior Landscaping Groups) and MD of Urban Planters, warns them to think hard before removing plants from their workspaces.Having plants in office environments can affect large savings in other areas. It is well known amongst the horticultural and the interior landscaping industry as well as academia that plants make a huge difference to our productivity and well being.Cutting the budget for interior landscaping may seem a good idea in the short run, but could mean big losses in the future. Research has shown that plants only need to increase productivity by 1% to pay for themselves and, as we know, they increase it by much more than that.Will you be removing plants from your office? How do you feel these cuts are being approached, and will they benefit anyone?http://www.efig.eu.com/press-release-just-one-plant

Replies

PRO

Geoffrey King July 1, 2010 at 11:12am

What about the staff looking after the plants themselves, most people have house plants, or is their a H&S dictate thet prevents this?
Laura @ eFIG July 1, 2010 at 11:16am

That is a good suggestion, but when it comes to professional installations of planting, it can be necessary that the company which installed them needs to maintain them to ensure they continue to thrive and thus give the benefits highlighted at http://www.efig.eu.com/benefits-of-plants

The issue here is that plants really need only increase productivity in an office by 1% to justify the expenditure on them - and we know they can increase it by so much more than that.
PRO

Lara Hurley July 1, 2010 at 11:22am

This is an interesting topic. I had students studying the impacts of plants in offices and they found that they significantly reduced the incidence of sick days, improved the feelings of well-being and happiness in the work place and can improve air quality. Removing them would seem senseless and false economy.
Laura @ eFIG July 1, 2010 at 11:24am

Absolutely. The benefits of plants far outweigh the financial cost.

Do you have any more of your findings in a report or online anywhere Lara?
PRO

Lara Hurley July 1, 2010 at 1:11pm

The research was by students for their dissertations so hasn't been published anywhere. A really good source of information and research is through ambius . There's an expert area on the web site as well as recent studies carried out in hospitals. Findings about patient recovery rates are interesting. There is also German research and examples of banks of plants being used to filter the air in offices and factories, reducing 'sick building syndrome'.
Laura @ eFIG July 1, 2010 at 2:49pm

That's fine. We have resources at http://www.efig.eu.com/benefits-of-plants - was just wondering if you had anything further we could add. We are always on the lookout for new resources.

Ambius are a member of eFIG, and their site also offers good resources.
Richard Boyd July 1, 2010 at 5:24pm

I think you are preaching to the converted on this forum Laura. ;)

Lots of useful links - for the best resources the USA health system has spent a lot of time researching and proving that badly thought out urban buildings create a poor sense of well being and many have introduced various forms of nature to assist patients progress. A few articles worth reading here
http://www.healthdesign.org/resources/pubs/articles/published.php

The trouble is that most people do not understand plants and trees and worst still they are afraid of them because they tend to die. So the easy option is to get rid, so educating en mass is always an uphill battle.