Happier staff and better sales

The health and energy benefits of plants are also evident in the workplace, where employees are often dissatisfied with the indoor climate and complain about health problems.

The properties of plants are able to produce a pleasant and stable indoor climate, which makes staff healthier and therefore improves productivity.

These feel-good properties have also emerged as a bonus for retailers in shopping malls.

Ingebjorg Alfsen, the manager of a Norwegian Investment company, was so impressed by findings about the beneficial properties of plants that she decided to transform the Oslo Metro Centre into a biological shopping mall.

Once the transformation had taken place, a survey was conducted amongst the visitors to the mall.

The results showed that most people were very positive about the transformation and in fact remained 30-35 minutes longer in the mall than before.They even shopped there more often.

And, of course, the golden rule of commerce says that a longer stay means higher spending and happier shopkeepers!