Living roofs

[Garden Carpet]

I have just read an article in the Reader's Digest about the chap who started Living Roofs. Excellent idea and a good way to bring back some of the habitats lost in the construction of the building.

Independent UK Green Roof Information and Research Resource

I cant find the article online so I have copied it below

HIGH FLYERS

How many circus performers does it take to get big business to look after rare birds? In Dusty Gedge's case, just one.

"I've been a birdwatcher since I was knee-high to a grasshopper," says Gedge, a 43-year-old Londoner. As an adult he became a street entertaine. While teaching circus skills to young people in Deptford, he was asked to carry out a bird survey and found a rare black redstart,

So began Gedge's mission to save this robin-sized songbird with a bright orange tail. It's partial to industrial wasteland -- but so are developers. As a result, black redstart numbers have dwindled to fewer than 100 breeding pairs in the UK.

It struck Dedge that the bird's urban habitat could be transferred to the top of the buildings that have usurped them. He'd heard about green roofs - flat roofs covered with rubble then seeded with local plants and wildflowers - and set about learning more.

Common in Germany, Switzerland and Sweden, green roofs were practically unknown in the UK. Gedge worked out that roof tops in London, adding up to 24 times Richmond Park, could be transformed into wild gardens to attract birds and rare insects, including two threatened species of bumblebee. Most roofs would be on office and industrial buildings, but even garden sheds can host an eco-roof.

They can prevent flash flooding by absorbing heavy rainfall. They cool the building beneath in summer and insulate it in winter and help absorb dust and pollution, "Planting them is just good sense" says Gedge.

So he started a campaign, His first major victory was the Barclays building in London's Docklands. Gedge was manning a stall at an environment day when one of the Barclays' envionmental managers came over and asked how he could help. "Shove a green roof on your tower" the ecologist replied.

The Barclays building now has Europe's highest green roof, 31 floors up, where daisies, buttercups and other meadow flowers nod in the wind. Ladybirds, grasshoppers and a money spider have moved in - and a black redstart has been seen there.

Green roofs are now springing up everywhere, including the Laban dance centre and Stratford City, both in London. Housing minister Yvette Cooper recently suggested that people installing green roofs on their homes would get council tax breaks. Gedge himself now has little time to juggle or walk the tightrope. He's too busy talking to developers as a green roofs' consultant. He has also set up a charity, Living Roofs. " I am not a hippy", he muses. "I'm and eco-warrior wearing a suite"

Copied from Reader's Digest April 2007

[smartie]

If you are interested in green roofs this is a useful site:

Green Roofs

A team at Sheffield University has done a lot of innovative work in this area.

[mrs fish]

Sedum roofs are popular in scandanavian countries, I would love to see them over here. They help with taking up the rainwater and only need a few millimetres of soil to grow on

Factsheet about sedum roofs

[almostnormal]

if anyone is interested in seeing a relatively mature green roof, martin mere has an excellent one. it's usually got quite a few birds on it. admittedly its not particularly urban, but the basic principle is there. the staff are always happy to tell you about the roof aswell.

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by mrs fish

Sedum roofs are popular in scandanavian countries, I would love to see them over here. They help with taking up the rainwater and only need a few millimetres of soil to grow on

Factsheet about sedum roofs

The single story hides at the London Wetland Centre have green Sedum roofs which are attractive.

[eeyore]

boddie and i saw a niceexample of this at the moorland info centre at edale in the peak - i like the waterfall off the roof too



the visitor centre at weeting heath has one too (built in 99) but this is not an unqualified success as the surrounding pines keep seeding themselves into it

[nightshade]

I love these ideas ,the sedum roof and the greenroof,it should be made compulsory for any suitable roof to be greened.I would if I had my way have all labour saving gardens cover a percentage area by way of mitigation.
I wonder what the insulating qualities are worth(I have not yet read the links supplied)The gravel space between the wheel tracks on my drive may just get a sedum transplant

[buzfuz8149]

Fascinating - I would love a green roof, it is definitely the way forward.

Carol.

[svenrufus]

Originally Posted by mrs fish

Sedum roofs are popular in scandanavian countries, I would love to see them over here. They help with taking up the rainwater and only need a few millimetres of soil to grow on

Factsheet about sedum roofs

There is a 'green' house on Ditchling Road in Brighton virtually city centre, it is single story, with solar water and solar PV at the rear of the roof and on the flat pitch about a tennis courts worth of Sedum. It is now about 2 years old, and getting a bit overgrown with grass. I don't know if this is an issue of maintenance or poor constructon, but looks a bit tatty, although no doubt it is more interesting ecologically.

There are also a number of self build housing co-ops up the same road on the way out of town which put grass roofs on about 15 years ago, they are in better nick although do suffer in dry summers.

The problem with the green roof idea is the weight, which - particularly for sedum which needs basically crushed rubble as a substrate - is significantly higher than for a conventional roof, so needs more sustantial infrastructure in the construction of the rest of the building to support it, so it comes at a cost, both financial and resource. I don't know enough to be sure if the cost justifies the effort, given the benefits of water capture, thermal insulation and habitat creation. I like the idea on a superficial level, but it is possible that it might not turn out to be the best use of resources for the desired result, and that money be better spent doing somthing on an offsite conservation basis. [I should find this out as I have advocated their use in the past when looking at mitigation and other planning issues for clients - any other views here would be welcome]

I did also hear that there was a brownfield site in Essex (nr Canvey Island? Thames estuary anyway) where it was planned to construct an industrial park, but as it was such a good invertebrate site (Shrill Carder Bee comes to mind), the final planning permission had a requirement for sedum roof to replace the lost habitat that the buildings would cover. Not got round to going to the area to check it out, does anyone know anything about that?

Cheers
Sven

[Paul mabbott]

There are quite a few on tower office block in the City of London: given the size of those things, the weight issue is less of a problem! And, of course, in the City truly green sites are not feasible so green roofs are very important both for conserving resident species and as islands for birds and insects traversing the great concrete sea ...

Originally Posted by svenrufus

The problem with the green roof idea is the weight, which - particularly for sedum which needs basically crushed rubble as a substrate - is significantly higher than for a conventional roof, so needs more sustantial infrastructure in the construction of the rest of the building to support it, so it comes at a cost, both financial and resource. I don't know enough to be sure if the cost justifies the effort, given the benefits of water capture, thermal insulation and habitat creation. I like the idea on a superficial level, but it is possible that it might not turn out to be the best use of resources for the desired result, and that money be better spent doing somthing on an offsite conservation basis. [I should find this out as I have advocated their use in the past when looking at mitigation and other planning issues for clients - any other views here would be welcome]
Sven

[Adam]

I work at London Zoo, and we have 2 or 3 green roof buildings if you wanted to see some in an urban location.