Sheffield, once renowned for its steel industry, is now labelled as the UK's greenest city, with over 55% of the city being green space. Current regeneration and development across the city offers Sheffield a new opportunity to keep up Sheffield’s green image –roof gardens.Green roofs are essentially roofs with a layer of vegetation added to them. They are energy efficient, keeping buildings cool in summer and warm in winter. They filter pollution, reduce rainwater run-off and provide wildlife habitats. 35% of Sheffield’s roofs are impermeable, by increasing the number of green roofs pollution due to water run-off can be decreased.
Three main reasons for having a green roof:
- water holding properties
- increased biodiversity
- thermal qualities –heat loss decreased
Sheffield’s Green Roof Forum includes members of Groundwork Sheffield, Sheffield City Council, the University of Sheffield and other organisations. It was formed in 2004 to raise awareness about green roofs and to undertake new strategies to increase green roofs. The forum recently published a book: ‘The Green Roof Pocket Guide’ giving information on why and how people should build a green roof.
GRID (Green Roof Infrastructure Development)
The forum were able to get £800,000 funding for a regional green roof strategy known as GRID. The budget was able to support policy framework development, market development, research, demonstration facilities, education, green roof projects and other facilities.
DIY Green Roofs
A garden shed, complete with a green roof, was erected on Sheffield’s busy shopping high street to show people that even the smallest buildings can be adapted for environmentally-friendly design.
Sheffield's Bus Shelters Go Green
To raise awareness about green roofs, two bus shelters in Sheffield were temporarily ‘greened’. Low growing, sedum vegetation mats were put on the bus shelters providing shade for waiting passengers and helping to filter dust and pollution from the air and rainfall.
1 comments:
This is great to hear and see! San Francisco is also carrying out a pilot project doing the same thing.
I was reading an article about this very topic called "Green Roof on Bus Shelters" at http://cleanerairforcities.blogspot.com/2008/09/green-roof-on-bus-shelters.html
The article proposes that green roofs should be on all bus shelters to mitigate the terrible pollution that city buses belch out as the pull away.
Good luck on the project!
Post a Comment