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	<title>The Green Roof Consultancy</title>
	<link>http://greenroofconsultancy.com</link>
	<description>Green roof advice and expertise</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:45:35 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>GRC- Green Infrastructure Audits in London</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Friday Gary Grant of GRC and Ben Kimpton of ECL provided an in depth presentation on the results of the Green Infrastructure Audit for the London Bridge area. This is includes a review of what current buildings could potentially take a green roof. GRC is working on 8 green infrastructure audits in London. This builds on there 10 year experience of working on green roofs and the successful Victoria BID audit in 2010 with LUC. Team London Bridge &#8211; Green Network Meeting at the Old Operating Theatre The breakfast event allowed GRC to present the philosophy behind Green Infrastructure and green roofs &#8211; what we prefer to call Ecosystem Services in Urban Areas. Once...]]></description>
		<link>http://greenroofconsultancy.com/grc-green-infrastructure-audits-in-london/</link>
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		<title>Bringing the beetles back to Abbey Road &#8211; biodiverse green roof</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The roof at Abbey Hive was once a white roof. Now it is a green roof alive with wildlife. The community centre sits at the North end of Abbey road and it is hoped that rare beetles will colonise roof along with bees, butterflies and other invertebrates. The wildflowers that have blossomed over the two months since it was installed have already attracted a range of hymenopterans. &#160; &#160; Designed by Dusty Gedge of the GRC, the roof was funded by SITA NATURE ENHANCED funds. The project was delivered by Buglife in association with livingroofs.org. Original white roofs appear to have been originally designed to have soils and vegetation on the building. When the waterproofing...]]></description>
		<link>http://greenroofconsultancy.com/bringing-the-beetles-back-to-abbey-road-biodiverse-green-roof/</link>
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		<title>Green roof for biodiversity &#8211; Bluewater Events Venue</title>
		<description><![CDATA[It has been a year of design work and working with contractors etc, but the new green roof for biodiversity has recently been installed for The Events Venue at Bluewater, Kent.  GRC was commissioned by Lend Lease  to design a specific green roof that addresses the local biodiversity interests &#8211; especially rare invertebrates and bumblebees. Bluewater Events Venue with Green Roof Photograph &#8211; Courtesy of Lend Lease The green roof is in it&#8217;s early stages and has been planted with a variety of sedum sp  and seeded with wildflower seeds collected within the greater Thames Gateway area and of green roofs in London and Essex. This give the roof some local provenance and ensure that...]]></description>
		<link>http://greenroofconsultancy.com/green-roof-for-biodiversity-bluewater-events-venue/</link>
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		<title>Bee hotel and habitat walls full of bees &#8211; Wat Tyler Green Roof, Essex</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The roof we designed with the Grass Roof Company was installed in 2009. We added a series of bee hotels and habitat walls designed by Green Roof Shelters. This year the roof and the bees are booming. Wat Tyler is at the heart of an very important area of England for rare invertebrates. The roof was designed to provide habitat and to show that well designed green roofs can provide important habitat on buildings for many rare invertebrates associated with brownfield land. The habitat walls/bee hotels were installed to provide additional habitat for mining and other solitary bees. In the second year many have taken up residence in our bespoke habitat walls. The roof is...]]></description>
		<link>http://greenroofconsultancy.com/bee-hotel-and-habitat-walls-full-of-bees-wat-tyler-green-roof-essex/</link>
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		<title>GRC working on largest green roof retrofit project in London</title>
		<description><![CDATA[We have been working on the Museum of London (MOL) retrofit green roof project for awhile now. The roof at the museum is actually a warren of different roofs. The plan is to  create a series of seminal green roofs that demonstrate the possibilities and potential for green roofs in UK. They will address the issues to tackle climate change in urban areas and, importantly, show how biodiversity and habitat creation at roof level can be achieved through good design and understanding of green roofs. There has been a green roof at the Museum for many years. It is a sunken garden. Last year the Museum created another garden specifically for their Honey Bees. We...]]></description>
		<link>http://greenroofconsultancy.com/grc-working-on-largest-green-roof-retrofit-project-in-london/</link>
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		<title>Designing Biodiversity Features into Simple Sedum Roofs</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Many simple sedum blanket systems are still be installed in the UK. Although such systems have inherent value for nature conservation green roofs with a greater depth of substrate and a wider variety of wildflowers can significantly increase the value of a green roof, especially for invertebrate species. GRC was commissioned 4 years ago to &#8216;improve&#8217; a simple sedum blanket green roof in the City of London. The features installed have created a more diverse environment that not only benefits native wildflife but also the resident Honey Bees that live in two hives on the roof. The original green roof system that was installed is showing signs of &#8216;wear&#8217; and &#8216;tear&#8217; and GRC are providing...]]></description>
		<link>http://greenroofconsultancy.com/designing-biodiversity-features-into-simple-sedum-roofs/</link>
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		<title>Watermatic&#8217;s Living Wall Demonstration Area</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I was recently invited by the Sustainable Water Industry Group (SWIG) http://www.sustainablewater.org.uk/ to view Watermatic Ltd’s http://www.watermaticltd.co.uk/ living wall demonstration area near Radlett, north of London. Zac Ribak, the boss at Watermatic is keen to show off his company’s ability to provide irrigation for virtually any living wall system and his demonstration area provides an excellent opportunity for people to see most of the living wall systems on the market and get a close look at the components, something that may be difficult to do when the vegetation is mature and the workings are hidden by panels or out of reach on a real project. Here I describe the various products on show. These walls...]]></description>
		<link>http://greenroofconsultancy.com/watermatics-living-wall-demonstration-area/</link>
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		<title>Sustain Award for Biodiversity</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Ecobuild week is a mammoth week. So we are a bit late in announcing that we at GRC have received the Sustain Magazine Biodiversity Award in the Business and Society Section. The award was for our design of the 55 Broadway Green Roof above St. Jame&#8217;s Tube Station in central London. We entered with the University of East London, who are involved in monitoring the roof as part of a Buglife &#8211; the Invertebrate Charity project funded by Sita Nature Enhanced. The project was also substantially funded by TFL. It was a great pleasure and an honour for Dusty Gedge to receive the award from Mike Wells of Biodiversity by Design, who sponsored the award....]]></description>
		<link>http://greenroofconsultancy.com/sustain-award-for-biodiversity/</link>
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		<title>Can swamp forests come to town?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Sustainable urban drainage involves catching rain in a green roof or collecting it for re-use (rainwater harvesting). Then, when it reaches the ground, water is kept near the surface in a swale or pond, instead of funnelling it into underground drains before it reaches a (usually) sorry looking and often channelized urban watercourse.  Sustainable urban drainage  reduces the likelihood of localised flooding caused by sudden storms and improves water quality in streams, rivers and ultimately, the sea. Great strides have been made in adopting this approach in German cities like Freiburg, American cities like Portland Oregon http://www.portlandonline.com/bes/index.cfm?c=34598 and Australian cities like Melbourne. Rain gardens and other urban wetlands receive surface water runoff, maintaining an interesting...]]></description>
		<link>http://greenroofconsultancy.com/can-swamp-forests-come-to-town/</link>
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		<title>Landscape Institute Awards 2010</title>
		<description><![CDATA[GRC Director Gary Grant collected two awards at the Landscape Institute Awards 2010 recently. The first was the winner in the strategic landscape planning category. The project was the Greater Ashford Landscape Strategy, which was undertaken by Studio Engleback, one of the country&#8217;s cutting edge landscape practices. See the Greater Ashford plans The Westfield living wall, which Gary worked on when he was at AECOM, was highly commended in the Under 1ha Design Category. For more information on the living wall see Gary&#8217;s blog at livingroofs.org Share with a Social Network:]]></description>
		<link>http://greenroofconsultancy.com/landscape-institute-awards-2010/</link>
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