Milton Keynes ranked second best city in England for ‘green roofs’

A council which has turned rooftops into thriving greeneries is hoping more cities will follow suit.

Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire has the UK’s second highest number of ‘intensive green roofs’ outside of London and it is estimated the city could retrofit another six full-size football pitches worth of roofs in the future.

‘Green roofs’ can include high-rise rooftop gardens with beds, pots, and rolled-out green carpets, as well as roofs on smaller buildings such as sheds.

‘Intensive’ green roofs classify as high maintenance and closely resemble parks and gardens.

With aims of becoming carbon neutral by 2030 and carbon negative by 2050, the green roofs are a part of the city council’s aim for Milton Keynes to combat climate change and become “the greenest place in the world”.

Dusty Gedge, urban climate change officer at Gentian, said: “We’re increasingly getting heat waves and green roofs help to cool cities down.

“Also, we get these flash summer storms and we get local flooding.

“Green roofs and what is known as a source control, as a first place for the rain to go and green roofs store that rain temporarily.

“But for me, the most important thing is actually they deliver real meaningful wildlife in cities.

“Since COVID, I’ve been really keen on this idea that people can have access in urban areas to greenspace at roof level for their well-being.”

The Green Roof Project recently relocated a showcase garden at Saxon Court on to the roof of the YMCA building.

A spokesperson for the project said: “We want residents to enjoy all the benefits of having a living roof.

“This will include growing vegetables, keeping bees, learning about biodiversity, and training in new green industries.

“We hope that by using the YMCA to demonstrate green roof potential, we can persuade other local buildings to follow them and join the green roof revolution.”

Cambridge is top in the UK outside of London for lower maintenance ‘extensive’ green roofs.

For more information relating to the green roofing project in Milton Keynes that we played a key part in, please click here.