The green roof installation RIBA Flash event on the 4th May was attended by 10 enthusiasts at the Mayville Community Centre all eager to learn from the leading green roof expert, Dusty Gedge. Dusty is the designer of the green roofs at Mayville where two areas of green roof have being installed. The group heard from Rachel Witherick of bere:architects about how the green roof is an integral component of the low energy environmental building ethos and proposals at the Mayville. Improving the ecology of this inner city site is of critical importance for both the architects and the client. In addition to the south garden that will be used for community food growing projects, it is expected that the meadow roofs will provide an education tool for local children and the Newington Green Primary School as well as providing an attractive interesting roof-scape for building users. Dusty Gedge talked through the design and specification of the roof at Mayville, general do’s and don’t’s for installing green roofs and then helped with specific technical queries raised by the group.
The event has received ‘overwhelmingly positive feedback in all areas’ according to the RIBA Flash event feedback.
“Just the right number of participants. Good information by project architect and green roof consultant. A bonus was to be taken after to bere:architects office.”
“Again another indication that Bere Architects are investigating some critically important aspects of sustainable urban design: water management, biodiversity, energy generation, green roofs (with or
without PVs) and of course the on-going evaluation of the Passiv Haus system for lowering emissions and energy use. These are going to be – already are – some of the greatest challenges
for London’s built environment. Should openings arise for these in my business, the Mayville Community Centre will prove a working exemplar with which to convince clients. It was also good to meet a representative of the local residents’ group who commissioned the project and raised the funds.”
“Excellent site visit Dusty and Rachel were very helpful and informative. A follow up is a must; it would be extremely interesting to see how the project develops following the initial stage viewing.”
“Dusty and Rachel were great sources of knowledge and inspiration. They were able to offer good theory and show us the application of the smaller green roof. Rachel kindly allowed us to visit Bere Architect offices which had a matured green roof in place, allowing us to see how the ‘end product’ might look. Some handouts would have been very helpful. Overall a great deal learnt onsite- much better than a CPD based experience.
For further questions on the building project contact rachel.witherick@bere.co.uk or for more specific green roof queries, contact dusty@dustygedge.co.uk
Further RIBA flash events focusing on passivhaus principles at the community centre are currently being planned and details will be released soon.