Green roof for biodiversity – Bluewater Events Venue

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 – especially rare invertebrates and bumblebees.

Photograph – Courtesy of Lend Lease

The green roof is in it’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 plants are ‘conditioned’ to the harsh environment at roof level. The green roof was installed by Blackdown, who worked closely with GRC to ensure that green roofs meet the design and specification for biodiversity.

Further seeds will be collected over the summer and added later. One plant will be collected by Bluewater Community Forum group. The Italian catchfly (Silene italica) is only known from 2 sites in the UK – Greenhithe and Gosport, in Hampshire. The seeds will be collected and cast across the roof. Silene such as White and Sea campion and Night-flowering Catchfly are commonly used on green roofs, so it is hoped that the plant will flourish on the dry conditions at roof level.

Part of the rationale for the design and specification of the  roof at The Events Venue, Bluewater, which will be the largest in the Thames Gateway area, is to provide habitat for rare invertebrates, especially rare bees.

The roof will be monitored by Dr. Kadas and Dr. Connop of UEL. We are hoping that local populations of Bombus humilis and  Bombus sylvarum will be found foraging on the roof in late summer once some of the wildflowers have started to bloom. There is no scientific evidence as yet of the two  Bombus species using green roofs in the UK. However several individuals were noticed feeding on a green roof field station in Barking Riverside last year. Lend Lease  are funding the research and hopefully there will be positive news later in the year.