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Find Out More About Our Pre-Grown, Fully Established Sedum Green Roof

green-roof-care-home-Wimbledon

M-Tray® is a pre-grown, fully established sedum green roof loaded into a portable tray, for easier transport and faster installation of green roofs.

All the growing, filtration and drainage elements are included in the system and the shape of the modules means that each one is simply laid onto the deck and clipped to the next module to create one seamless, fully established green roof.

The major benefit of M-Tray® is flexibility. Getting it to the roof is not a disruptive and costly process, which is a huge advantage over loose lay systems. Each module can be carried by hand to areas where it is simply not possible to lose lay roll-out systems layer-by-layer. M-Tray® can reach the roofs other systems cannot reach.

Access to the roof deck is future-proofed. If there are problems with the membrane beneath or inspection is required, one M-Tray® or a section can easily be lifted out without major disruption. This is in contrast to loose lay systems, where tonnes of loose substrate will need to be dug out and the whole area may need to be destroyed.

Each M-Tray® is 500mm x 500mm x 100mm deep. Each tray unit clips into its neighbour at four points. The sedum grows above this level to hide the joints. This interlocking system means that each M-Tray® is fitted securely with no need for sharp fixings going through the waterproofing beneath. The sedum growth is not restricted and can mingle across the whole area. Irrigation systems can be installed in conjunction with the trays.

The M-Tray® modules are pre-grown in Wallbarn’s UK nursery. The empty modules are made from recycled polypropylene and are manufactured with an angled base which creates a large surface area for the roots to establish. The module is filled with a bespoke substrate mix developed exclusively by Wallbarn with zero peat or brick or concrete particles. It has been developed to encourage long-term plant growth and provide sustainability.

The sedum is planted into the substrate from seed. We use a mix of many different flowering species of sedum suited to the UK climate, to ensure all-year growth, flowers and biodiversity to attract wildlife with variation throughout the summer, durability and the ability to be resistant to periods without rainfall.

M-Tray®:

The vegetation is grown into the M-TRAYS over a 12 month period to ensure strong, well established, healthy plants, are fully integrated into the intermediate layers with solid root structures. This means less shock or bedding-in time when installed, less risk of wind uplift or erosion and ensuring an instant, mature green roof.

For the full story, please click here.

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£2m investment for bus shelters in Milton Keynes

Bee-friendly urban wildflower meadows prove a hit with German city dwellers

Milton Keynes Council is investing a proposed £2 million to upgrade hundreds of bus shelters over the next few years.

Green Roof on bus shelter

A leading Cabinet Member will take a decision on Tuesday to start the tender process for new bus shelter suppliers.

The shelters are set to include:

  • Carbon reducing green roofs with Sedum plants
  • Solar-powered lights and energy-efficient LED lighting
  • Digital live timetable displays

Cabinet Member for Transport, Labour Councillor Jennifer Wilson Marklew, said: “The Progressive Alliance is committed to reducing carbon, increasing biodiversity and supporting sustainable transport – these new shelters will help us achieve those goals.”

“It is our utmost priority to invest in our bus infrastructure because not only is it the sustainable thing to do, but our local bus users deserve shelters that are accessible and modern, and this investment delivers that.”

Liberal Democrat Councillor Robin Bradburn added: “Not only do the green bus shelters look great, but they help reduce pollution and increase biodiversity, so I’m excited to see even more go up around Milton Keynes.”

For more on this story, please click here.

 

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Cities Drive Climate Change, and Can Provide a Solution per U.N. Report

M-Tray sedum garden room green roof

U.N. scientists laid out ways to rein in emissions and curb climate change, including a chapter on actions that city planners can follow.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report found urban infrastructure and activities caused about two-thirds of today’s emissions.

That means that cities can potentially “solve two-thirds of the problem. So that’s pretty exciting,” said Yale University geographer Karen Seto, a lead author of the chapter.

Other actions cities can take include improving energy efficiency in buildings, designing streets to avoid traffic congestion, planting “green roofs” and incorporating more parks and trees that help remove some carbon dioxide emissions and also help to keep cities cooler, the report says.

Many cities are already acting. London has introduced fees on highly polluting vehicles in the city center, and Paris has outlawed diesel cars.

Planning for and encouraging population density is recommended to prevent rural and suburban sprawl, which is less energy efficient and destroys natural habitats.

“The 21st-century will be the urban century, defined by a massive increase in global urban populations,” the report said. About 55% of the world’s population lived in cities in 2018, a figure expected to jump to 68% by 2050 – with Asian and African cities seeing the biggest increases.

Climate-friendly urban policies would also improve public health by reducing air pollution, the report said.

For the world to have a chance of limiting global warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of pre-industrial levels, cities need to act fast – and financing would need to be boosted significantly, the report says.

Cities in 2020 were responsible for up to 72% of global greenhouse gas emissions, up from 62% in 2015. Aggressive climate action could bring city emissions to net-zero by 2050. But failing to act could instead see urban emissions double in that time, the report said.

For more on this story, please click here.

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What Rotterdam teaches about the power of green roofs

M-Tray sedum garden room green roof

From May 26 to June 26, the Dutch city of Rotterdam is showcasing the potential of rooftops. The Rotterdam Rooftop Walk connects rooftops through air bridges, offering a vision of the future of cities.

“Often, cities offer little space to develop more green spaces, and rooftops provide that space for plants and for biodiversity,” says Léon van Geest, director of the Rotterdam Dakendagen Festival.

Green rooftops can be an effective solution to urban heat islands, cities or specific neighborhoods within an urban area that have become much warmer than their surroundings due to absorbing and re-emitting the sun’s heat. Disenfranchised urban areas are particularly struggling with heat: A 2021 study in the Nature Communications journal found that heat exposure tends to be higher in lower-income neighborhoods, both in the U.S. and globally. Residents of these neighborhoods are also less likely to have air conditioning, or may be unable to afford to use it even if they do have it. This heat exposure aggravates inequality through risks such as higher heat-related mortality, heat strokes, dehydration, loss of labor productivity and decreased learning capacities, while also increasing costs for air-conditioning.

Enter green rooftops. They can take many shapes — lush gardens, potted plants, solar panels, urban farms, wildflower meadows and community spaces painted in light colors that absorb less sunlight — and can help combat heat islands in several ways. Plants and even trees on the roofs of buildings can drastically lower the urban heat island effect by reducing temperatures. According to the EPA, citywide ambient temperatures can be lowered by 5 degrees Fahrenheit with green roofs, reducing building energy use by up to 0.7 percent and thus lowering energy demand. Green roofs can also retain water and thereby prevent or reduce urban flooding. They filter greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants from the air and attract more biodiversity.

Ashish Sharma, atmospheric scientist and graduate faculty at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, researches how low-income neighborhoods could benefit from more green roofs in Chicago. In a 2018 paper on the role of green roofs in reducing heat stress in vulnerable urban communities, Sharma writes that “efforts to mitigate heat impacts, such as implementation of green roofs, offer solutions to issues of social justice as well.” Sharma and his team have identified several neighborhoods on the South Side and West Side of Chicago that are highly vulnerable to heat, have high electricity consumption, and also could benefit from green roofs to reduce temperatures. But the infrastructure is only one aspect of green roofs.

“You have to really invest in having the community on board with the green rooftops,” van Geest says. Experience from Rotterdam has shown that maintenance is a key issue. To properly maintain these spaces, you need ownership. Often, someone from the community takes the helm in managing a green rooftop, but in vulnerable communities, many people have more pressing worries than whether their roof is green. Rooftop community gardens and urban farms, as seen in Singapore or Cairo, are a good solution: They provide all the benefits of green roofs while also supplying fruit and vegetables to building inhabitants.

Another challenge for green rooftops, particularly in lower-income neighborhoods with lower budgets, is funding. Sharma has an idea for that, too.

“Big corporations, such as supermarkets, need to step up and install green rooftops over their commercial properties in poor and vulnerable neighborhoods. By doing so, those residents and nearby neighborhoods will be able to access benefits of reduced temperatures and address the question of environmental justice,” Sharma says, adding that such public-private partnerships might be a smart and affordable approach to addressing environmental inequity.

For the full story, please visit – https://www.greenbiz.com/article/what-rotterdam-teaches-about-power-green-roofs

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What’s the most effective way of keeping a hot city cool?

Teak Decking

The temperature difference is caused by a range of factors, including dense building materials absorbing more of the sun’s energy, fewer trees to provide shade, and less soil to cool by evaporation.

Buildings can also act like the hairs on a husky, reducing wind speeds and blocking thermal radiation up to the night sky. On top of that, waste heat from car engines, air-conditioners and other energy use adds to overall air temperatures.

 

Why does this matter? Even a small increase in air temperature pushes up overall energy demand, and about 25% of our energy bills are for only 40 hours per year when the grid is most heavily used.

The most extreme heat events can buckle train lines, cause rolling blackouts and cost billions in lost productivity. And it’s not just bad for our wallets.

Heat stress can damage organs or exacerbate existing illnesses. Since 1900, extreme heat events have killed more Australians than bushfires, cyclones, earthquakes, floods and severe storms combined.

So, what can we do?

There are a number of things individuals can do to reduce the impact of heat in their homes, such as installing light-coloured roofing material, insulation or an air-conditioner.

But it gets more complicated when considering the city as a whole, and how these small actions interact with each other and with the climate.

Air-conditioners

In heatwaves, air-conditioners save lives, allowing stressed bodies time to cool. But our homes can only be made cooler by blowing heat outside, along with the extra energy to run the system.

As well as increasing outside air temperatures in the short term, the fossil fuels burned add to global warming. A world cooled by air-conditioning probably isn’t the answer.

Trees and parks

Trees provide shade, but also cool the air, because evaporating water from leaves takes energy, reducing peak temperatures by 1-5°C.

Most city planners agree on the broad benefits of urban vegetation, with some metropolitan councils developing urban greening strategies.

However, urban trees can be a vexed issue for some councils; they use water, can be costly to maintain, damage utilities and property, and worsen air quality instead of improving it. Larger cities are often made up of dozens of councils; getting them to agree is a major challenge.

[Read more: In many cities, it is becoming too hot to work]

White roofs

We know that black surfaces get hotter in the sun, but the demand for dark roof tiles still far outweighs the demand for light colours. More reflective roofs can reduce a household’s energy bill, as well as the overall temperature of a city.

White roofs are most effective in warmer climates because, in cold climates, the cost savings in summer must be balanced with additional heating costs in winter.

Green roofs and walls

Green roofs and walls are building structures with integrated vegetation. They provide cooling benefits by shading buildings and through evaporation from leaves. They generally show less cooling benefit than white roofs, cost more to install and maintain, and use additional water and energy.

But they do look nice, improve biodiversity and make people happier.

For more information, please visit – https://citymonitor.ai/community/public-health/whats-most-effective-way-keeping-hot-city-cool-2761

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How a Sponge Approach Can Help Build More Climate-resilient Cities

Lodha Project Demands Perfectly Flat Limestone Terraces

More greenery and green roofs mean better flood protection as well as cleaner air and cooler temperatures.

Heat domes, wildfires, droughts—Canadians have firsthand experience of the effects of climate change on our weather. And from British Columbia to the Atlantic provinces this also includes heavier and more frequent rains, which are flooding communities across the country.

Meanwhile, our cities and water-management infrastructure were designed for an era where powerful rainstorms were considered a once-in-a-century event.

“We’re building larger buildings and leaving less landscaping around buildings because we’re going for maximum density,” says Ron Schwenger, president of Architek, a design-build company that’s been on the leading edge of living architecture for 15 years. “That also means more surrounding hardscape—pavement and concrete.”

When it rains, it pours

In the past, lawns, gardens, parks and meadows did some of the heavy lifting after a downpour, absorbing water into the ground. But as concrete jungles expand, excess water has nowhere to go. “All the rain gets deflected into the storm sewer system, which can only take so much water,” Schwenger says.

With more forceful rainstorms happening more often, these systems become overwhelmed, putting a high imperative on creative new solutions to reduce the deluge.

For Schwenger, stemming this rising tide means making building surfaces more absorptive. “The spongier a city is, the more capable it is of managing water during a heavy rain event,” he says.

Creating a sponge effect

The so-called sponge city approach doesn’t mean incorporating dishwashing aids into urban design. Rather, it builds on another climate change-fighting tactic—the green roof—to absorb and utilize rain waters, essentially turning hard surfaces into sponges.

“Planted materials can percolate and hold water just like miniature sponges,” Schwenger says. “When rains come down, green roofs and green spaces absorb water rather than deflecting it to the storm sewer system.”

For more information, please click here.

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How To Install Green Roofs

Green Roof Installation

A step-by-step to unpacking, assembling and installing a green roof.

Delivery
The M-Trays® are delivered on pallets to the kerbside. It is the buyer’s responsibility to move the pallets from the kerb to the roof/podium.

Unpack immediately
Unpack the M-Trays® from the pallets immediately upon delivery to prevent the sedum plants being crushed. If left stacked for more than 24hrs sedum will start to decompose and die.

Handballing trays
The trays can be easily transported by hand to where they are being laid.

Prepare your roof
Ensure the roof membrane is properly protected and free from dirt and debris. Roll out the supplied geotextile fabric, ensuring an overlap of 20cm. This will act as a protective layer and a filter for drainage.

Install metal edging
Once the geotextile is laid, install your aluminium edging (optional). This is placed around the perimeter and loose laid into position. Do not mechanically fix the edging into the waterproofing membrane.

Start placing the trays
The trays are laid over the geotextile fabric and clicked together. They fit over the base of the edging bar.

Tray orientation
Each module has 2 x clips on the North side and the East side; and 2 x recesses on the South side and the West side.

Lay irrigation piping
If an irrigation system has been purchased, install as you lay the modules (see irrigation guide) by laying the pipes in between each tray at the base.

Aligning your trays
Repeat the process across the roof taking care to ensure the rows of M-Tray® are properly aligned.

Clipping trays together
Click each module into position ensuring clips are connected over the recess points.

Adapt the trays
For curves, details and end-of-runs, the M-Tray® modules can be easily adapted using a wood saw. Take care not to dislodge the substrate or vegetation too much.

Press open sides together
The open side(s) must always be pressed up to the side of the neighbouring M-Tray® in order to retain the substrate / growing medium.

Create a hard border
Fire Regulations state that M-Trays® must not be installed right up to buildings, walls, roof lights, hatches, mansafes, vents, drainage outlets, or other protruding objects.

Riverstone pebbles
A riverstone pebble border of at least 200mm width should be installed at these points (See GRO Code for guidance on building green roofs).

Irrigate once installed
After installing the modules, it is essential that you water them thoroughly until fully saturated.

If an irrigation system has not been installed, water by hand.

Fertilize the vegetation
It is recommended that you scatter slow-release fertilizer by hand across the whole roof at the rate of 25 grammes per m2 (a handful).

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Designing Green Roofs for Biodiversity

Garden Room green roof

There’s no denying it, biodiversity is in vogue. The age of lawns and monocultures is crumbling before a wave of pollinator gardens, native plant sanctuaries, and other green infrastructure projects. Horticultural trends are keeping pace with these new ways of thinking and moving towards increasingly naturalistic and ecologically driven designs. Biodiversity in urban areas is of particular concern due to the increasing rate of urban expansion. Cities occupy about 3 per cent of the Earth’s surface and are the most rapidly expanding habitat type on the planet (Grimm et al 2008). This expansion of urban human development has come with species loss at every level, from arthropods to mammals and is considered a leading cause of species extinction (Czech et al 2000). Importantly, urban areas are also where over half of the human population now resides and over two-thirds is projected to live by mid-century. This means that the important work of promoting and restoring biodiversity in urban areas will also benefit human health and wellbeing. 

Surprisingly, urbanization can be both a boon and a curse for biodiversity. The overall number of plant species (species richness) often increases, primarily due to the introduction of nonnative species for ornamental use, whereas mammals, birds, and arthropods see a general decline in the number of unique species (Faeth et al 2011). Although there are often greater numbers of plant species in urban areas than surrounding natural habitats, the abundance of native species is reduced and replaced by a suite of adaptable plant species common to cities around the world, a phenomenon known as biotic homogenization (McKinney 2006). Since vegetation dictates the richness of the rest of the biological community, it’s no surprise that these habitats support fewer types of animals. But, vegetation – as opposed to animal and insect life- also happens to be the thing that humans have the most control over, meaning we have the opportunity to influence the larger scope of biodiversity in urban landscapes.

Thoughtful green infrastructure projects, including green roofs and living walls, are one important strategy to provide crucial habitat in cities. Research has shown that green infrastructure nearly always supports a great array of species compared to the conventional alternative and can even have similar biodiversity value compared to natural analogs (Fillazola et al 2019). Green roofs in particular are certainly a vast improvement over asphalt roofs and allow for the installation of green space in densely built areas where large ground level installations are often not possible. 

Still, it’s important to remember that biodiversity is a complex subject and doesn’t always fit our human aesthetic values. For example, brownfield sites – abandoned industrial sites or previously developed land – although generally thought of as eyesores, are increasingly recognized for their biodiversity value too and, in some cases, are even conservation targets (Hunter 2014). Therefore, a thoughtful approach to development and redevelopment must be taken, balancing human needs with biodiversity conservation. Even with a greater number of green interventions being applied in urban areas, it remains difficult to know whether the perceived biodiversity we see in cities actually translates to higher species counts and overall ecological health. Although many specifics vary by region and climate, there are several basic things to consider when designing for biodiversity on green roofs and other green infrastructure. 

For more information, please click here.

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Modular Green Roof Market to Set Phenomena Growth by Wallbarn, Architek, GreenGrid

M-Tray sedum garden room green roof

An extensive elaboration of the Modular Green Roof Market covering micro level of analysis by competitors and key business segments. The Modular Green Roof explores comprehensive study on various segments like opportunities, size, development, innovation, sales and overall growth of major players. The study is a perfect mix of qualitative and quantitative Market data collected and validated majorly through primary data and secondary sources. Some of the MajorKey players profiled in the study are LiveRoof, Wallbarn, Green Roof Outfitters, Architek, GreenGrid, James Greenroofs, Vegetal iD USA, ZinCo & Carlisle Coatings & Waterproofing

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On the off chance that you are engaged with the industry or expect to be, at that point this investigation will give you complete perspective. It’s crucial you stay up with the latest sectioned by Applications [Commercial, Industrial & Residential], Product Types [Modular Green Roof Market, Intensive, Semi-intensive & Extensive] and some significant parts in the business
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Executive Summary: It covers a summary of the most vital studies, the Modular Green Roof market increasing rate, modest circumstances, market trends, drivers and problems as well as macroscopic pointers.

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Highlighted of Modular Green Roof Market Segments and Sub-Segment:

Modular Green Roof Market by Key Players: LiveRoof, Wallbarn, Green Roof Outfitters, Architek, GreenGrid, James Greenroofs, Vegetal iD USA, ZinCo & Carlisle Coatings & Waterproofing

Modular Green Roof Market by Types: Global Modular Green Roof Market, Intensive, Semi-intensive & Extensive

Modular Green Roof Market by End-User/Application: Commercial, Industrial & Residential

Modular Green Roof Market by Geographical Analysis: North America, US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Germany, France, U.K., Italy, Russia, Nordic Countries, Benelux, Rest of Europe, Asia, China, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, India, Rest of Asia, South America, Brazil, Argentina, Rest of South America, Middle East & Africa, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE & Rest of Middle East & Africa

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