Autumn '21

GRO NETWORKING
THE CONVERSATIONS AT THE HEART
OF THE GREEN ROOF INDUSTRY
Maggie Fennell Wells, GRO Marketing Committee Chair, discusses how GRO
is interacting with the market to ensure conversations and collaboration help ensure
best practice and outcomes for green roof projects…
Cross-disciplinary collaboration
is crucial for successful green
roofing. Hydrology, civil
engineering, landscape architecture,
horticulture and ecology were all
represented at the University of
Sheffield’s Green Roof Centre, which
was my own very first introduction to
the subject.
This was a hub where academics
could bring their separate fields of
expertise together to look at the whole
system – in a truly integrated way – in
order to improve the whole system.
Then all I had to do was to link that
research with industry and the practical
reality through a Knowledge Transfer
Partnership!
Since then, there has been huge
progress in building the foundations
for the technical integration needed
in industry to deliver green roofs,
including three evolutions of the GRO
Code of Best Practice, the launch
of successful Green Roof training
courses with Lantra, and the
transition of GRO into a
formal Trade Association
in 2020.
GRO promises to
provide great networking
opportunities for the whole
range of different disciplines
and sectors involved in green roofing,
linking new-comers and innovators with
seasoned and experienced members.
These conversations and debates allow
us to identify common problems and –
more importantly – potential solutions.
A diversity of participants with a shared
goal of promoting the responsible
implementation of successful green
roofs ensures a steady, realistic journey
towards better understanding and
quality of delivery. This underpins the
development of trust and relationships
between companies and organisations
that might not normally interact, but
must understand each other to deliver
the best environmental outcomes
possible.
Left: Maggie Fennell Wells is GRO
Marketing Committee Chair
and Product Development
Manager at Boningale.
Networking has been one
of the GRO membership
benefits that has been
most difficult to provide
during the pandemic, but one
which we have been determined to
pursue with any means at our disposal.
GRO led the second World Green Roof
Day back in June this year, stimulating
conversations across the world and
provided an online webinar to launch the
GRO code with themed zoom breakout
rooms for more in-depth discussions.
These online media are likely to stay
as a widely accessible and inclusive
part of our engagement activities,
however we are delighted to be able
to offer our members a range of
face-to-face networking opportunities
as well this autumn. We will now be
able to celebrate successes together
at the NFRC Roofing Awards and
engage newcomers with practical
demonstrations at Futurescape Show,
with additional talks planned at shows
outside London as well.
Whatever discipline you represent,
please come and find us to join the
conversation about green roofing.
Contact GRO
email:
membership@
greenrooforganisation.org
www.greenrooforganisation.org
Tweet: @RoofGro
10 GREENSCAPE AUTUMN 2021 • www.greenscapemag.co.uk