Comments on: MOER Green roofs: history, classification and naming

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Sun, 06 May 2012 08:32:12 +0000

In reply to Henk van der Eijk. I have the story about the sheep convincing - and have a small green roof on my own house which, in a wet year, reminds me of the vegetation on a mountain top. The soil is only 50mm deep and in a dry summer the grass is killed by drought.

By: Henk van der Eijk

Henk van der Eijk — Sun, 06 May 2012 07:12:16 +0000

Glad I could help, and good job finding that photo.

I see in the text under the photograph that the story about the sheep is called a legend. I can ofcourse not guarantee the story is true, but I can refer to the actual text, an article in a publication of the Rotterdam Archive:
Mees, R., De Muizenpolder, Rotterdamsch Jaarboekje, Tweede reeks, vijfde jaargang, 1917; Rotterdam, page 124.

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Sat, 05 May 2012 17:53:50 +0000

In reply to Henk van der Eijk. Thank you very much for the historical information. I was very pleased to find this photograph of the Westelijk Handelsterrein . Additional information on the history of green roofs and roof gardens would be most welcome.

By: Henk van der Eijk

Henk van der Eijk — Sat, 05 May 2012 09:22:05 +0000

There is reason for a new caption in the above post: ‘Green roofs in the 19th century’.
The oldest green roof in the Netherlands dates back to 1894 and still exists. The roof of the warehouses of the Westelijk Handelsterrein in Rotterdam was laid with gras from the outset. It is said that this was done on the initiative of a bishop who lived nearby and resented the thought that an important part of his new view would otherwise consist of a flat and unembellished roof.
The Westelijk Handelsterrein was a design by architect Theodorus Laurens Kanters (1842-1897). In 1917 someone wrote that, depending on the time of year and in addition to being a green roof, showed grazing sheep or workers harvesting the gras and building hay stacks.

Modern inner city roofs could thus both be beneficial to the local climate, and teach dwellers in the surrounding buildings something about the production of honey and wool. Provided there is a sound way to get the sheep up the roof, and down again…
Over the last years, Rotterdam started an initiative to financially support home- and building owners in creating green roofs.

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 02:35:17 +0000

In reply to Christine. I agree! London Honey could be a world-beater. The words are phonemes and, since a fabulous range of plants is grown in London, the honey is sure to have a rich and distinctive flavour.

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 23:37:40 +0000

There are many varieties of honey – would this one be called London green roof honey?
[ http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/honey-varieties.html ] It would be interesting to see a description of its taste and the use on the menu as ‘London greenroof honeyed carrots.’

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 16:18:19 +0000

Very glad to hear about the honey. Wouldn't it be great if the busy bees let the UK become self-sufficient in sweetners by (1) using healthy honey instead of harmful sugar and ultra-harmful High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) - a compound which pollutes soft drinks and seems destined, one far-off day, for the Poisons Register (2) reducing our sugar intake and our obesity. See previous blog post Sugar may be the world’s worst poison – so the EU subsidises sugar growers through its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)

By: Stephen Harmer

Stephen Harmer — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:10:40 +0000

I recently carried out judging for the European Federation of Interior Garden design and out of the twelve or so office blocks and buildings I visited, most had some form of green roof, albiet some were very small sections. A few of these companies also keep bees’s on the roof and use the honey in the staff restaurents. The honey in London so I was told is some of the best in the country with a good variety of plant life on the cities roofs. It felt strange to be level with the dome of St Pauls yet surrounded by plants.