Green Roofing: from Skyscrapers to your Flat Roof

For decades, the cities of China have been associated with terrible air pollution. The Chinese President, Xi Jinping, is anxious to change this reputation to improve the health of his people and increase tourism. As well as restrictions on automobile use and the relocation of factories, some architectural solutions have been looked at - including the greening of skyscrapers. Let’s have a look at the large scale Chinese proposals and then see how you could green your own flat roof space.

Vertical Forests

Two skyscrapers are planned for Nanjing that will be ‘vertical forests’. The roofs and balconies on the structures will be planted with over 2,500 trailing plants and over 1,100 full trees. These plants should remove a whopping 25 tons of carbon dioxide - a potent greenhouse gas - from the environment each year. At the same time, the plants will be producing oxygen, the gas that humans breathe in. The architects have already trialled their design on a smaller scale in Europe.

Greening your Flat Roof

If you install the correct GRP fibreglass or EPDM roofing system for your flat roof then it can easily support the weight of a soil substrate and some plants. These types of roofs are airtight and watertight and they allow you to create a whole extra layer of greenery that will provide similar benefits to the Chinese garden skyscrapers, but on a smaller scale.

An Attractive Addition

Contact RG Leverett Ltd for a free survey of your flat roof. We can assess its suitability for greening and install your new green roof. There are lots of options for green roofing both commercial and domestic properties. A green roof is an attractive addition to your property and provides extra insulation. Sedum is particularly popular as it requires very little care once installed. 

Call us on 01603 418818 and we will send an engineer round at a time that is convenient to assess your roof.

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