Roofs & Rambles

We installed the green roof on the King Alfred School roofs back in late March. Three months on the roofs is developing into a lovely species rich green roof. On installation the green roofs consisted of brown green roof substrate and a collection of plug plants. However we had also seeded the roof with annuals and native herbs. With the wet weather in late May and June the roof has started to really flourish and is boon for the schools Honey Bees and the local bumblebee population.

This is a good lesson in green roof implementation and design. Firstly patience is best. Far too many people rush to have an instant green effect. Whilst it is understandable that people what to see the results of either their perosnal labour and of course their money, greater rewards can be had from the green roof by waiting for the plants and the roof to develop at their own speed. Greater variety and interest will happen with this approach.

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May 2010

The roof was designed following the guidelines which Gary Grant, Dr. Gyongyver Kadas and I have written for Natural England on biodiversity and green roofs. This will be published in the autumn. In fact the roofs are on Dr. Kadas’ sons school, so she gets to see the roof on a regular basis.

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The school are planning a few more new buildings and hopefully they too will have green roofs – designed in a similar fashion and not just some generic system.

The roofs were installed by John Little (the Grassroof Company), with who I wrote the DIY green roof guide. Of course the roofs also followed the basic principles as outlined in the guide.

This is yet another roof that we will follow ans watched it’s development. Luckily Dr. Kadas’ visits on a regular basis.