On 10 April, Shirley Rodrigues, London’s Deputy Mayor for the Environment, launched a report which shows the speed with which London has delivered on its drive to meet its objectives on climate resilience and biodiversity. And Tower Hamlets is the borough leading the way.
Rodrigues led the Greater London Authority’s (GLA) Environment Team when the First green roof policy was included in the London Plan in 2008. “I have been delighted to witness the patchwork of green roofs and walls spreading across London’s skyline, alongside the establishment of a world-class industry that is working towards the greening of London,” said Rodrigues.
The report, Living Roofs and Walls from policy to practice – 10 years of urban greening in London and beyond, was produced by the European Federation of Green Roofs and Walls (EFB) and livingroofs.org. It reveals that the total area of green roofs in the Greater London area is equal to 1.5 million m2 with a density of 0.17m2 per inhabitant, which far surpasses that of other cities in the world such as Copenhagen, Toronto and Singapore. Significantly, the density in the capital’s Central Activity Zone is now a remarkable 1.21 m2 of green roof per inhabitant.
Tower Hamlets is the top borough for green roofs. The Report states “ Tower Hamlets …. has the largest area of green roofs in the whole of Greater London and, aside from the City of London, also has the highest green roof area per inhabitant at 0.55m2. With a total of 167,381m2 of green roofs, Tower Hamlets saw an increase of 20% between 2016 and 2017”.
The new report contains:
- infographics detailing all the green roofs installed in the Greater London Area and the Central Activity Zone (CAZ) as of 2018 with links to infographics for all the London boroughs which are published at livingroofs.org;
- the First ever league table of green roof cities around the world including London’s CAZ to provide a snapshot of London’s comparative performance;
- a review of global green roof policies in cities around the world;
- new evidence of the benefits and economic case for green roofs and walls;
- an appraisal of how various London boroughs are delivering green roofs;
- 17 case studies of green roofs and walls in London, including three from one of London’s leading developers, Berkeley Group, and the recently opened IKEA store in Greenwich.
You can download the report from the livingroofs.org website.
Photos: green roofs at Canary Wharf (John Archer) – click to enlarge
