‘Taking on climate change and biodiversity one green roof at a time.’
I am a green roof and urban green infrastructure professional, international public speaker on green roofs, ornithological/wildlife consultant and nature photographer.
It was a love of birds that led me into the world of green roofs and urban green infrastructure. While undertaking a professional bird survey of Deptford Creek in 1997/98, I discovered Black redstarts breeding in the area, and so began my drive to promote green roofs for biodiversity. My technical knowledge started when I flew to Switzerland in 2000 to learn how green roofs could be used to create habitat. In 2002, I began working with the Greater London Authority and with developers Argent and the Canary Wharf Group to develop biodiversity and green roof provision in King’s Cross and on the Canary Wharf estate.
In 2004, I set up livingroofs.org, which is now the leading green roof website in the UK. Four years later, I was asked to develop the first green roof policy in the UK for the London Plan and was principal author of the original technical report (to support Policy 5.11 Green roofs and development site environs). Recently I co-authored the report, “Living roofs and walls from policy to practice: 10 years of urban greening in London and beyond”, charting the success of the policy since its inception.
As president of the European Federation of green roofs and wall associations, a role I’ve held since 2009, I advise national federations on policy development and guidance. I give talks around the world on the latest innovations in green roof provision, support research undertaken at doctorate level, and act as consultant on the design of exemplar green roofs.
Photography
My passion for green roofs and greening cities is driven by an inherent love of nature. My mother says I fell out of a highchair chasing a Robin, and birds have been an inherent part of my life since. I have always spent leisure time photographing them but I took up photography at a more professional level in 2009. The photography section on this site contains all my work – primarily images of birds – but of nature more generally, as well as landscapes and cityscapes. And there is, of course, a section dedicated to green roofs in all their diversity and beauty.