Barking Riverside Green Roofs - Research Project
UEL Project Lead:
Project Partners:
This Research project focuses on how our ever-increasing need for housing and associated infrastructure brings with it a growing expanse of impervious surfaces. This has several environmental consequences. It results in rapid rainwater run-off and overloading of storm drains. It increases the tendency of rivers to overtop their banks and flood surrounding land. It reduces the quantity of water held in the soil immediately beneath the hard surfaces. It reduces the possibilities for surface seepage to re-charge groundwater aquifers. It creates effective desert conditions for wildlife. These hard surfaces also significantly reduce the possibilities for contact with nature and thus they also result in a reduction in the health and well-being of our urban communities.
Extensive or intensive green roofs are a potential intervention for this problem. Establishing plant material on rooftops provide numerous ecological and economic benefits including water management, mitigation of the urban heat island effect, energy conservation and it is also a positive step to promoting a sustainable community capable of supporting and enhancing biodiversity. Darryl Newport will be able to support the Green roof research with his expertise in sustainable material knowledge, support in building practise green roofs, and any consultancy advice needed.
To begin 12 month research an test rigs on extensive and intensive green roofs as a solution to the above problems.
The suggested 12-month research aims to investigate the performance of flora and associated fauna on different substrates/aggregates installed on green roofs and associated structures, thus being able to deliver a commercially acceptable green roofing system able to support and enhance sustainability and biodiversity.
The research will be focussed on the construction of 27 test platforms. This research facility will also act as a visual statement of the commitment being made by Barking Riverside Development to green-roof research, technology and adoption. The facility will form an important and much-needed source of information and guidance for design teams, developers and public bodies.
Besides supplying policy makers, engineers and designers with new insights into best practice guidance and management of green roofing systems, the specific research outcomes will further serve to inform the wider public about the various social, ecological and economic benefits represented by green roofs in the development of a sustainable environment, particularly within the space of the city.
The research will be divided into five work packages, namely:
Below is a recent UEL press release on the Green Roof Programme Launch day:
UEL is at the forefront of efforts to test the design of green roofs across Greater London, after the successful launch of a new sustainability research centre in the new Barking Riverside Development on Friday 22 October. Green roofs are one way to help mitigate the effects of climate change arising from the built environment, and are increasingly being seen as an important part of making cities less damaging to the environment. London is rising to the challenge, not just by hosting the recent World Green Roof Congress 2010, but also through Mayor Boris Johnson’s draft Climate Change Adaptation Strategy. For more information, please contact Darryl Newport.
Here is the Green Roof Programme Launch Day presentations
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Research Projects