A French company wants to turn the Eiffel Tower into a "giant tree", in a bid to make it a symbol of sustainable development.

"The project is to cover the Eiffel tower in plants that is to say to make the largest tree in the world. An immense tree. A tree of life we call it. The project is above all to create energy, energy surrounding sustainable development" said the Director General of Ginger, the urban deisgn consultancy behind the idea.

Clad in a new coat of living greenery it could be expected to also provide a perch for many insects and birds, among them perhaps the not-so-welcome pigeons that irritate many city-dwellers. Read the full article here.