Drive to turn rooftops green

By Rob Virtue on September 26, 2008 10:59 AM |

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By Michelle Brookes

A GOVERNMENT agency is encouraging developers to construct buildings with green roofs in London.

The measure has been put forward by the Environment Agency as a means to combat the negative effects of climate change.

In a set of guidelines released last week, the agency says covering roofs with vegetation will insulate buildings and soak up rainwater.

A layer of plant life will, the agency claims, make structures cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

Paul Shaffer, of the Construction Industry Research and Information Association, which helped produce the agency’s guidelines, said: “Green roofs are a simple and yet effective way of adapting to and mitigating the affects of climate change and help manage surface water.�?

As well as soaking up rainwater, which can help reduce flooding, green roofs will also reduce energy consumption and lower CO2 emissions by working as natural insulators.

The agency claims they will also encourage biodiversity, increased efficiency of solar panels, reduction of reflective noise entering buildings and the filtering of air pollutants.

Already gracing buildings in Canary Wharf and Cannon Street in the City, many more are planned for developments such as Greenwich Peninsula and Battersea Power Station.

The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change says that urban areas in the UK need to increase their vegetation by 10 per cent to combat climate change.

With cities having a limited space on ground level many feel we should be now taking to the roofs.