A green wall cascades over sandstone inside a private library in Hunters Hill, providing a calming effect for contemplation.
When you have some ugly infrastructure, why not green it up? This chimney has a green wall of Philodendron ‘Xanadu’ all around with growing media composed of 20% Knauf Urbanscape to reduce water consumption and make plants grow well.
Succulent Green Wall recently completed in Newtown Sydney, plants are growing to a complete cover.
A green wall to provide a display village with a welcoming entry.
Evolvement consulting work in the Middle East (Dubai and Qatar), Green roof and vertical garden training and vertical garden design for local partners.
Green roofs for Health
Let me show you healthy trends I saw on my green roof study tour in the USA in 2016. Many restaurants and merchants advertise the freshness of their food. Some restaurants even make consumers aware how their food waste is recycled to provide compost to fertilise the next crop. Health is good for you and business it seems!
Local food is generally fresher, whilst providing more nutrients. Environmental benefits include reduced transport costs and carbon emissions. The produce can also cost less as a result. I visited green roof producers who are highly commercial in fresh food production. They were making profits in the city and working hard like farmers do. Being close to populations they were able to give back to the community, in one case educating 30,000 school kids a year in urban farming techniques.
Rooftop specifications for growing media, plants, irrigation, waterproofing, drainage and maintenance vary considerably for the different applications below, Evolvement looks forward to helping you implement your healthy roof, call Robert on 0468 787 071 or rgriffi8@gmail.com .
Market Stall, they look good, wait till you taste them!
Keeping it local, This restaurant shows the whole range of their food and where it comes from in Connecticut.
Growing your food in the restaurant itself! This restaurant is called Mill 180 Easthampton MA . Having cold winters they have completely reimagined the urban park for year round usage. Nothing is left out in the way of using plants to keep people nourished in mind and body.
10 Acres farm restaurant is situated on Vancouver Island in Victoria, Canada. The restaurant was recommended to me for its fresh seasonal food. I can vouch for its good meals. It also lets patrons know that the food you don’t eat provides 20 tonnes of compost used to fertilise the farm and your next meal.
Brooklyn Grange, a commercial farm adjacent to New York. This farm supplies many of the local restaurants. They have a scheme where local residents pay a little each week of the year and receive fresh local food during the growing season. Around 25,000kg of food is produced each year on the farm . Brooklyn Grange also educates thousand of school kids on how to farm crops, chickens and honey.
Growing your own food on a city residential roof in San Fransisco. My lucky son lives here.
Some history of gardening for economic reasons in the USA is this photo from the 1930’s as seen in New York National Museum of the American Indian.
Yale University studying climate change at the effect on Maple syrup production. 100 year records on the farm show earlier warm temperatures are reducing the viability of farming this liquid gold in the New Haven district of the USA.
The Highline green roof for the public, an old railway lines crosses New York it has now been renovated to provide a linear park across the skyline. People walk long distances in a beautiful park atmosphere in the city that never sleeps.
END OF USA 2016 GREEN ROOF BLOG
Greening our cities is what we love at Evolvement Pty Ltd this is one of our projects in Redfern Sydney.
Healthy Australian native plants on a green roof
Healthy green roof and vertical garden plants, Redfern Sydney.
High density green rooftop living space
What greenery can do for a Sydney city rooftop, Redfern Sydney
Beautiful vertical garden and planters on a green roof in Sydney CBD
Green roofs and vertical gardens with native provenance plants are my passion. (CLICK ON ABOVE IMAGE) This applies to any location I have worked in, from the prairies of America, sand dunes of the United Arab Emirates and to my backyard on Hawkesbury River NSW, ancestral land of the Darug Aboriginal people. You will see how I am growing suitable species in Green roof trays for roof installation. The trays provide biodiversity, you may see various lichens growing in amongst Baekea brevifolia, Casuarina nana and I have also had success with the endangered Micromyrtus blakelii. The photos also show Hawkesbury plants that grow in less than 50mm of soil, these are where I get my ecological inspiration from. Plus I put a shots of Aboriginal rock art near my house.
Green roof hospital, St Vincents Hospital, a million dollar Sydney green roof built by Griffith Landscapes. A beautiful intensive green roof used by the public and patients. Horticulture features highly as does artwork. Design by Oculus. The project won awards for construction excellence.
St Vincents hospital is a fine example of an intensive green roof, built by Robert Griffith and his team & designed by Oculus. The Sydney Casino a roof landscaped to a John Olsen design is seen by air from approaching tourists was also built by the same team. Other projects constructed by include Canterbury Hospital, Jacksons Landing Pyrmont for Lend Lease and Loretto Girls School in Milsons Point. All projects included difficult logistics from city streets, expertise in horticulture and complete green roof technology. Robert gained green roof experience in Germany, The Middle East, America and Australia using various technologies. Photos of these projects are shown below, as is the research currently undertaken to improve the Australian green roof industry.
Evolvement has developed a Green Project Management course for the NSW Government currently taught at Ryde Horticultural College in Sydney Australia. Robert Griffith is a regular speaker at international conferences. Recent training by Robert ( a Director of the Green Roof Association of Australasia) was provided at the World Green Infrastructure Congress in Sydney where he delivered Green Roof and Living Wall Introduction 101. Robert has numerous qualifications including GREEN ROOF INFRASTRUCTURE: DESIGN AND INSTALLATION, the benchmark for qualifying as a ‘Green Roof Professional’ (GRP) in North America. This course is recognised by the American Institute of Architects; Landscape Architecture Continuing Education System; Roofing Consultants Industry; US Green Building Council; Green Building Certification Institute and the Association of Professional Landscape Designers.
Please don't hesitate to contact Robert on +61 468 787 071 or rgriffi8@gmail.com for advice or training.
reen roof hospital, The rooftop of Canterbury Hospital has a green roof courtyard built by my staff and I.
green roof school Sydney
An intimate green roof garden.
Highly productive rooftop farm in a city environment producing fresh produce close to restaurants.
Green roof built at Jacksons Landing for Lend Lease by my staff and I.
A model for an Australian native extensive green roof
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Green roof possibilities using unique mesa and tabletop landscapes from Australia's arid zones.
On a recent assignment to investigate flora suitable for rooftops in Australia's dry outback, I could look no further than the tops of the mesas (hills) and tablelands around Broken Hill. Here plants often grow in alkaline soils with a pH of 9.0. Rainfall is low, averaging 250mm (10") per year or around 20mm (3/4") per month. The low shrubs are mostly native, but a smattering of exotics adds great colour. Strangely enough, a plant that I found intriguing whist working in the Middle East (Rumex vesicarius) was providing a colourful display on the mesas. This plant was brought to Australia over 100 years ago by Afghani camel herders, seeds may well have been attached to the camels. I will be working on providing insulation and removing dust toxicity with the aid of a Green roof and some uniquely resilient flora.
A unique blend of plant species including Aristida contorta, Rumex vesicarius, Ptilotus obovatus,
Note the rock mulch around Broken Hill. Many plants grow their roots underneath the rocks where it is cooler.
Swainsona formosa, the beautiful Sturt's Desert Pea growing in the streets around Broken Hill
Provenance green roof plants for northern Sydney
There are many species suitable for growing on buildings and this can be seen by the proliferation of green roofs and vertical gardens around the world. My favourite pastime is exploring the rich habitat around my home, on the northern edge of Sydney, Australia. For 30 years I have studied the vegetation in this area. I have found and propagate some unique flora species most suited to growing on buildings. The reason these species are so suitable is that they can tolerate extremely dry and wet conditions as found on building roofs. A number of species uniquely grow on very shallow soils in depressions in rock. As with most species on earth, they have evolved to thrive in niche habitats. There is a official name for this ecological community, Coastal Sandstone Plateau Rock Plate Heath. The beauty and ecological benefits of these particular plants is astounding, take for instance the rare and vulnerable Micromyrtus blakeli pictured below. Early in the morning I regularly see wallabies on these rock platforms and in summer a variety of reptiles. The plants bring invertebrate pollinators who in turn provide a food source for mammals and reptiles. The substrate is a mixture of eroded sandstone, dead and live organic matter of lichens and mosses. Abundant micro-organisms and soil borne invertebrates provide nutrients for plant species. It is a holistic system that can be replicated on green roofs to ensure development does not mean loss of biodiversity. This is exactly what government departments worldwide are insisting on. I have been lucky to have been involved in similar projects in Chicago, Istanbul and Stuttgart Germany. I am now researching around 20 species of plants and looking to installing these plants on green infrastructure projects. Robert Griffith
Here is group of Micromyrtus blakeli on around 35mm of soil mix. Note the beautiful moss and lichen growing at the base.
Micromyrtus blakeli a member of the Mytaceae family. Gorgeous flowers in spring and you can see the distinctive oil glands that Myrtaceae species have in common.
Micromyrtus blakeli, a vulnerable species in Hawkesbury bushland.
Enjoying the Coastal Sandstone Plateau Rock Plate Heath.
This is a natural ecosystem in Berowra on Hawkesbury sandstone country, there are hundreds similar systems in the area. It is a model for water management and extensive natural green roof solutions. The soil depth varies from 25mm to 150mm and plants cover this range of soil depths, mostly under 100mm. Soil is composed of the base sandstone particles and rich in organic carbon in the way of decomposed plant material. The ratio of sand to organic compounds is around 30:70 respectively. The organic portion holds large amounts of water like a sponge.
This rock formation is common in the area and provides a dish for water catchment. as the this area is around 30M2 it would likely hold around 3000 litres of water at saturation. This photo was taken in a considerably dry period and plants still have plenty of moisture. Water that runs off the area is pure and clean. It runs off more slowly than simple rock or hard surfaces and from hundreds of similar sites keep the local creeks flowing all year. You can see the overflow channels carved over time into the rock by erosion. The problem we have in impervious city surfaces is where water and pollution instantly runs to the sea taking with it pollutants. Green roofs are a solution to this problem.
There is a rich species list of sedges, flowering natives, and mosses at this location. Some plants have very beautiful floral displays, including Banksia ericifolia, Grevillea speciosa and miniature Honey Sundews that are carniverous. These plants further absorb pollution and convert into harmless substances. Plants provide natural carbon sequestration as they convert CO2 in the atmosphere into oxygen and store carbon in their branches and roots.
The plants themselves shade the soil keeping it cool even in the heat of the day, this insulating effect reduces evaporation and cools the whole area.
As well as plants the habitat includes many native animals from invertebrates to wallabies who feed on the plants. For a small area with minimal soil depth it is diverse and abundant providing a gene pool for biological evolution.
This site provides an ideal example for green roof infrastructure.
Evolvement Green roof and wall Project Management Services
Evolvement designs and manages green roof and wall projects. We are horticulturalists, landscape designers and environmental scientists with numerous awards for exceptional projects. We produce beautiful green roofs and walls that function as food farms, biodiversity hot spots, water management and reduction of city heat island effect.
We design solutions, engage and manage contractors on your behalf, and manage the project to achieve a quality result. We seek the best value and technology for our clients.
Beautiful projects
Your roof and wall will be designed to provide a beautiful environment as a place to enjoy and relax. Visual enhancement can be achieved with the other functional benefits provided be green roofs and walls.
Water management
Water quality and storage is incorporated into project design, to reduce water consumption and runoff. Ponds provide fish and macro invertebrate habitat and enhance the landscape.
Food production
Roof top gardens can be highly productive and be the source of locally produced food. Commercial vegetable production, herbs, bee hives and even fruits can all be produced.
Biodiversity
Plants are specially chosen to provide a food source and habitat for birds. The green roof and wall can be built to provide habitat and offset land clearance elsewhere. Habitat is created by sound ecological principles by our environmental scientists.
Clients
Developers, Architects, Local Councils, Landscape Architects and Government Departments
Projects Undertaken
Green roof projects
Green roof Canterbury Hospital refurbishment Fraser Property Group
Canterbury Hospital Green roof and cafeteria
Sydney Casino pebble mulch
Jacksons Landing Pyrmont Sydney for Lend Lease
Loretto Kirrabilli
St Vincents Hospital Sydney
Although not a green roof as such, 800 tonnes of coloured gravels were installed on the Sydney casino by my staff to a John Olsen design. It forms a bold pattern of Australian wildlife to be viewed by approaching tourist planes. The roof has all the facets common to green roofs in drainage, waterproofing, and logistical complications of working in the city centre.
Loretto Girls School Kirrabilli has an intsesive green roof built my staff and I.
This green bridge project on the Pacific Highway in Northern NSW is specifically designed to allow native animals to move between forests on each side of the roadway.
A concept design showing a possible green roof and wall solution for future buildings.
Biodiverse rooftop grassland in Switzerland, this provides habitat for diverse bird-life in the city.
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