VISITORS to Chorley town centre may have spotted a new feature from a local businessman who is setting his sights on turning the borough green.

Rick McKeever’s firm, Wonderwall, has donated one of its ‘living walls’ to the Flat Iron car park, offering a colourful display as building work starts on the new Market Walk scheme.

Living walls are bright vertical gardens and allow plants to be grown on the side of buildings or bridges.

Meanwhile, another wall is at Parklands High School on Southport Road and offers students a beautiful haven within the urban site.

Rick, 40, said: “We like to give back to the community and by donating this wall we are giving not only something lovely to look at but they are also helping the environment.”

The walls are built from Wonderwall’s 100 per cent recyclable, self-watering and easy-to-use planting system. The system also helps to reduce the carbon footprint of the area by effectively cleaning the air of pollutants.

Rhenden Pillay, who works with Wonderwall, said: “Alongside Chorley in Bloom and local charities who work with disabled adults, we have been completing the replanting to get the walls looking good as we head into autumn.

“The system we have is so easy and fun to use that it allows people who may struggle with conventional gardening enjoy the art of designing with plants.”

Mr McKeever, who lives in Buckshaw Village, set up the company in 2016 and it has earned rave reviews from peers. It included picking up several awards for innovation from trade shows up and down the country as well as winning a gold medal at Southport Flower Show for their display.

It will be a busy week for the company who are set to exhibit at the NEC from Wednesday to Sunday and the highly-anticipated Grand Designs Live. Rick is hoping his business will have people green with envy at the show.

It will see Channel 4 presenter Kevin McCloud take to the main stage and will include stands from some of the biggest names in interior and landscape design.

Find out more by visiting Wonderwall Direct on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.