Summary

The brown roof occupies a sub-section (100 m2) of the Birmingham Voluntary Service Council (BVSC) building at 138 Digbeth in Birmingham in the UK. It is designed to provide demolition site brownfield type habitat in early to mid stages of succession. It aims to provide habitat for the rare, Schedule 1 protected (Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981) bird, the black redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros), and a wide range of brownfield associated birds, plants and invertebrates. The project was funded by SITA Trust from the Landfill Communities Fund, SWITCH and the Birmingham Environmental Partnership. It was led by Groundwork Birmingham and Solihull in partnership with Advantage West Midlands, the East Birmingham North Solihull Regeneration Zone, Birmingham and Black Country Biodiversity Partnership, Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust, Birmingham City Council, Birmingham Environmental Partnership, the Environment Agency, BVSC, LivingRoofs, the Green Roof Consultancy and the University of Birmingham. The development of the roof is being monitored by The University of Birmingham.

Roof description

The roof waterproofing was installed by Index Building Products Ltd. From the bottom up, it consists of the existing mastic asphalt, a 5mm thick Index Proteaduo composite underlay, a 4mm thick Index Defend antiroots H (anti-root barrier), and a combination protection/water retention mat on the top. Groundwork Birmingham and Solihull installed the brown roof itself and laid a mix of (1) quarried gravel, (2) sand, and (3) recycled demolition aggregate (silt and clay removed in processing) generously supplied by Coleman and Company on top of the water retention mat. The entire roof was seeded with a wildflower mix developed by Emorsgate Wild Seeds, LivingRoofs and The University of Birmingham. Additional habitat resources were included in the roof design; namely, pure sand piles that can act as nest sites for ground nesting bees and wasps and small log piles that invertebrates can hide under and birds can perch on.

Map of roof

Sediment size distribution by weight in different sections of the BVSC brown roof

Demonstration facilities

Green roofs are rarely fully accessible to all mainly due to health and safety reasons, but BVSC have undertaken several initiatives to make their brown roof more accessible. They have installed a glass pained door that leads onto the roof so that the roof can be viewed at close proximity even if it is windy and they have installed a video camera that beams live images of the brown roof into their foyer and onto the web. These images can be viewed at http://www.bvsc.org/greenroof/.

Television programme coverage

The BVSC brown roof was filmed for a programme that should appear on Teachers TV in the Autumn.

Development photographs

View 1 – Hover mouse over photograph to show the date taken, and click to enlarge

View 2 – Hover mouse over photograph to show the date taken, and click to enlarge

Gallery

Hover mouse over photograph to see the photograph caption and click to enlarge.

 

Species known to have used the brown roof as habitat

This section is updated regularly, but is not necessarily up to date because of the time necessary to identify samples and process data.

 

Flowering plants

Agrostemma githago (Corn cockle)

Anthyllis vulneraria (Kidney vetch)

Arenaria serpyllifolia (Thyme-leaved sandwort)

Buddleja davidii (Butterfly-bush – plants removed)

Cardamine hirsuta (Hairy bitter-cress)

Centaurea cyanus (Cornflower)

Cerastium fontanum (Common mouse ear)

Cerastium glomeratum (Sticky mouse ear)

Chenopodium album (Fat-hen)

Conyza canadensis (Canadian fleabane)

Coronopus didymus (Lesser swine-cress)

Cymbalaria muralis (Ivy-leaved toadflax)

Daucus carota (Wild carrot)

Echium vulgare (Viper's-bugloss)

Epilobium ciliatum (American willowherb)

Epilobium parviflorum (Hoary willowherb)

Fragaria vesca (Wild strawberry)

Galium aparine (Cleavers or goosegrass)

Geranium columbinum (Long-stalked crane's-bill)

Lactuca serriola (Prickly lettuce)

Leontodon hispidus (Rough hawkbit)

Leucanthemum vulgare (Oxeye daisy)

Linaria vulgaris (Common toadflax)

Lotus corniculatus (Common bird's-foot-trefoil)

Matricaria discoidea (Pineappleweed)

Matricaria recutita (Scented mayweed)

Medicago lupulina (Black medick)

Papaver dubium (Long-headed poppy)

Papaver rhoeas (Common poppy)

Persicaria maculosa (Redshank)

Plantago lanceolata (Ribwort plantain)

Polygonum aviculare (Knotgrass)

Prunella vulgaris (Selfheal)

Ranunculus bulbosus (Bulbous buttercup)

Reseda luteola (Weld)

Rumex obtusifolius (Broad-leaved dock)

Sagina procumbens (Procumbent pearlwort)

Sanguisorba minor (Salad burnet)

Sedum acre (Biting stonecrop)

Senecio jacobaea (Common ragwort)

Senecio vulgaris (Groundsel)

Silene vulgaris (Bladder campion)

Sonchus asper (Prickly sowthistle)

Sonchus oleraceus (Smooth sowthistle)

Stellaria media (Common chickweed)

Trifolium arvense (Hare's-foot clover)

Trifolium pratense (Red clover)

Trifolium repens (White clover)

Verbascum thapsus (Great mullein)

Veronica hederifolia (Ivy-leaved speedwell)

Vicia sativa (Common vetch)

Viola tricolor (wild pansy)

Invertebrates

Aloconota gregaria (a rove beetle)
Amara familiaris (a ground beetle)
Amaurobius similis (a lace webbed spider)
Amischa analis (a rove beetle)
Amischa forcipata (a rove beetle)
Anthophora furcata (a flower bee)
Bathyphantes gracilis (a money spider)
Bombus pascuorum (a bumble bee)
Bombus terrestris (a bumble bee)
Coccinella 7-punctata (seven-spotted ladybird)
Erigone atra (a money spider)
Erigone dentipalpis (a money spider)
Gymnetron antirrhini (a weevil)
Harmonia axyridis (Harlequin Ladybird)
Hippodamia variegata (Adonis Ladybird)
Hyalus hyalinatus (a white faced bee)
Lepthyphantes tenuis (a money spider)
Lesteva longoelytra (a rove beetle)
Liogluta longiuscula (a rove beetle)
Meioneta rurestris (a money spider)
Micargus herbigradus (a money spider)
Milleriana inerrans (a money spider)
Mocyta fungi agg. (a rove beetle)
Oedothorax fuscus (a money spider)
Oxypoda brevicornis (a rove beetle)
Prinerigone vagans (a money spider)
Pseudeurophrys lanigera (a jumping spider)
Savigna frontata (a money spider)
Sitona lineatus (a weevil)
Sitticus pubescens (a jumping spider)
Trechus quadristriatus (a ground beetle)

Birds

Columba palumbus (Wood pigeon)

Corvus corone (Carrion crow)

Sturnus vulgaris (Starling)