Adding Biodiversity Via Practical Gardens on Unused Rooftops

Adding garden areas for wildflowers using existing rooftops with a modular and an unobtrusive approach, allowing practical expansion of green spaces.

Within urban landscapes such as Dublin, maintaining biodiversity is difficult due to the presence of high-rise building and paved areas. Even parks and private gardens are often largely lawn spaces and are limited in diversity, particularly for native species of plant. To counteract this, we propose to demonstrate the construction of a wild garden using flat roof spaces in the Trinity East campus. This will set a model for introducing biodiversity to industrial areas in a practical method. The aim is to improve biodiversity in tandem to making the campus a more pleasant environment, demonstrating a more representative environment of a world leading research facility. To do this we propose to use gardening trays to tile across the roof spaces. This will create an feasible way to add growing areas without need for infrastructural development and without obstructing necessary maintenance works on the roof spaces. The costs associated with this are the tile-able growing trays, the wildflower seeds and compost, totaling approximately €45 per square meter. This project will also explore planter methods (e.g. reusing barrels or tires) to reduce costs and increase recycling. The species of plant will be chosen to support the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan with a mix of annuals and perennials for short and long term diversity. Once the practicality of this approach is demonstrated, it can be easily be expanded across a range of sites across Trinity and used a role model to encourage similar gardens across the Dublin area. Future plans are to use this in tandem with rooftop bee keeping efforts currently in place (e.g. Bees On The Roof) to bolster the declining bee populations.

Initial scope is the Advanced Microscopy Laboratory and surrounding buildings on the Trinity East campus.

Total budget: €585The cost of the project has been calculated at €45 per square meter. This includes €7 per square meter in soil costs, €3 per square meter in seed costs and €35 per square meter in modular planter costs.

As the nature of the work is outside and can be conducted with minimal contact with others, no special COVID-19 precautions will be needed outside of existing social distancing and sanitising.