Summer '22

News
GREENSCAPE
#WGRD2022 REACHES OVER 60 COUNTRIES AS THE POPULARITY OF
GREEN ROOFS AND ASSOCIATED SYSTEMS CONTINUES TO GROW
The organisers of World Green
Roof Day, which took place on
June 6th, have reported the day
was a huge success with a number of
impressive events taking place in cities
throughout the world.
Now in its third year, World Green Roof
Day was founded by green roof experts
Chris Bridgman and Dusty Gedge, and is
a global celebration of green roofs, blue
roofs and biosolar roofs showcasing the
benefits they bring to people, nature
and the built environment, with live
events taking place across the world and
people getting involved on social media
sharing images, videos and clips using
the #WGRD.
The organisers have stated over 60
countries celebrated the official World
Green Roof Day this year, from Brazil
to New Zealand, and Norway to South
Africa, as individuals and companies took
the opportunity to showcase impressive
green roofs of all sizes, highlighting why
they love them and their importance to
their surroundings.
This year, in addition to the many other
ways individuals could get involved,
the organisers put together new fun
and engaging activities for people of
all ages, which included providing the
instructions so children and adults could
work together to create a Lego green
roof bus stop; a new Minecraft Challenge
where individuals could build and
share their dream green roof using the
#WGRD2022; plus a downloadable World
Green Roof Day poster was created for
people to colour in and share on social
media.
Chris Bridgman (pictured
right presenting), Co-
Founder of World Green
Roof Day, explained:
“These were all fun
ways for adults and
children to work together,
or individually, and engage with World
Green Roof Day. We’re seeing more
green roof bus stops appearing in towns
and cities throughout the UK, so creating
your own in Lego is a fun way to increase
awareness of these roadside additions,
and hopefully help people understand
that whilst they look pretty, they also
bring all sorts of additional benefits to
the area in terms of wildlife habitat and
sustainability.
“Likewise, it was great to see what people
came up with when they created their
dream green roofs for the Minecraft
Challenge! Alongside the downloadable
poster, it was an opportunity to get
creative, raise the profile of green
roofs and get more people of all ages
interested in them.”
Elsewhere, World Green Roof Day saw
other key events taking place throughout
the world, with worldwide participation
from GRO members and their sister
companies, including Sempergreen,
Optigrun, Zinco, Bauder, and BMI Group
who launched a series of campaign
videos in 19 different languages, whilst
green roof federations from around the
world also brought green roof owners,
designers, manufacturers and growers
together to celebrate.
The Rotterdam Rooftop Walk launched
the week prior to World Green Roof Day,
and has enjoyed over 150,000 visitors
since opening; plus, rooftop tours in
Israel and Jerusalem are also taking
place, showcasing the importance of roof
space for people and nature.
World Green Roof Day also saw the
YMCA Milton Keynes launch its new
green rooftop to its staff and
residents, supported by MK
Council, and developer Socius
also used World Green
Roof Day to announce their
proposal for one of the UK’s
highest biosolar roofs on the
MK Gateway development.
The organisers say green roof workshops
and knowledge sharing also took place
in Kuwait, and Hungarian green roof
product manufacturer Diadem delivered
a construction workshop to 20 building
and civil engineering professionals from
Kazakhstan on the day.
Closer to home, the Rooftop Revolution
was active on World Green Roof Day
using #lookup to continue its push to
unlock the potential of flat roof spaces
with nature-based solutions implemented
within all new and retrofit construction
projects, whilst Ravago released a new
video focused on the green and blue
roofs at two newly occupied London
residential developments – The Forge in
Upton Park, and Unity Place, part of the
South Kilburn Regeneration Programme.
Dakakker – Europe’s largest rooftop farm
– also celebrated 10 years of growing!
Looking forward to next year’s event,
Chris Bridgman explained: “We would
encourage as many businesses and
individuals to open up their rooftops to
the public around the globe to safely
demonstrate and showcase the multiple
benefits of roof greening for climate
action, biodiversity, health and wellbeing.
Please save the date – 6th June 2023 –
and celebrate with us!”
This is just a small taste of what went on
this World Green Roof Day 2022, find out
more at www.greenroofs.com or
www.worldgreenroofday.com
6 GREENSCAPE SUMMER 2022 • www.greenscapemag.co.uk