Wednesday 3rd March 2009
Buglife's new Living Roofs for Wildlife project will create seven ‘living roofs’ for rare bugs and birds in some of London’s most densely populated areas. Living roofs are seen as a vital step towards reversing the decline of urban wildlife caused by the ongoing loss of habitats such as brownfield land and gardens. Species that are likely to benefit include the endangered Brown-banded carder bee and the Black redstart.
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| Brown-banded carder bee (Bombus humilis) © Buglife |
The three-year project is funded through SITA Trust’s Enriching Nature Programme and will install living roofs on buildings including the Transport for London headquarters in St James Park, Ford Motor Company at Dagenham, the University of East London (Stratford) and Lewisham Town Hall. Each roof will include wildflower meadows, sandy areas and shingle in order to recreate the habitats used by threatened species. The living roofs are being specially designed by wildlife charity Buglife and leading green roof experts LivingRoofs.
Professor Germaine Greer, passionate wildlife enthusiast and President of Buglife, will launch the project at Ecobuild 09 later today. She says: ‘Living roofs are one way we can all do something to help so many of the creatures we love that are disappearing because of loss of habitat, those bumblebees, butterflies and even birds that we are all afraid of losing. Every building has a roof, and this project shows how every roof could be doing its bit for the environment.’
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| Laban Dance Centre roof, London © Livingroofs.org |
Buglife’s Conservation Projects Manager Jamie Roberts believes that living roofs can provide a more sustainable future for our towns and cities: ‘We want this project to inspire those planning and designing new urban buildings. If a proportion of the flat roofs in our towns and cities could be brought alive, this could make a huge contribution to reversing urban wildlife declines.’
Dusty Gedge, director of LivingRoofs, agrees: ‘It’s hard to imagine a sustainable or indeed bearable future in our cities without living roofs. They will be vital in helping to offset the impacts of climate change, through reducing energy use and preventing flooding’.
