VIBES Award: Adapting Scotland

Highlights

The Floating Ecosystems:

  • Promote and utilise bluegreen infrastructure for ecological placemaking. Resilient city infrastructure can include floating parks with floating homes, offices, farms and gardens.
  • Help communities become more resilient to climate change. Floating solar generation and wastewater treatment can be integrated into these systems.
  • Facilitate remediation and/or regeneration following adverse weather incidents such as storms and/or flooding. Floating Ecosystems adapt to changing water levels and help to manage storm water.
  • Provide additional habitats to support bio-diversity, including biodiversity in urban environments.
Sponsored by: Adaptation Scotland
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Based in Moray, Biomatrix Water Solutions supply products and services to meet the growing demand for ecological water technology which is functional, attractive and sustainable. They produce Floating Ecosystems, which support plants. These absorb nutrients from the water, helping to prevent pollution, and to provide a home for local wildlife. These products and services will enable society to adapt to climate change and become more resilient, by promoting and utilising blue-green infrastructure for ecological place-making.

Their Floating Ecosystem Modules have multiple benefits including habitat creation, urban landscaping,
water quality management and waste water treatment. They have installed 850 Wetland Ecosystem Modules, equating to over 12,000 aquatic plants and 2,760m2 of new ecological enhancement in urban centres around the world. The rafts can be incorporated into flood alleviation schemes. They can facilitate remediation and/or regeneration following adverse weather incidents such as storms and flooding. Floating farms could also help with local food supply resilience and could be used to engage local communities to adapt to climate change.

In 2019 Biomatrix Water Solutions launched their Living Water Cities campaign which combines ecological awareness, community empowerment, industrial decomplexifying and waterway celebration. In this way, they use their superior engineering and ecological expertise to engage and inspire people around the world to become involved in and restore local waterways. The judges were very impressed by the ways in which Biomatrix has engaged with communities including schools, volunteers and local partners and the knowledge sharing associated with these engagements.

Edible crops can be planted on Floating Ecosystems. So far volunteers have planted strawberries, kale and other edible plants on their floating system, within cities this empowers communities to learn more about where their food comes from.

The Adapting Scotland award recognises businesses and partnerships that are taking a proactive approach to managing climate risks and/ or developing products and services that enable society to adapt. The judges felt Biomatrix Water Solutions was a great example and a worthy winner of the Adapting Scotland award.

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Galen Fulford, Managing Director at Biomatrix Water, said: “Winning a VIBES Award is testament to the hard work of the team and recognises our commitment to taking a proactive approach to managing climate risks.

“We are proud of our contribution to tackling this global issue and are delighted that our efforts have been rewarded on a national level with the Adapting Scotland Award from VIBES.”