Boningale Greensky plugs into Scotland’s largest wildflower and sedum green roof [BONINGALE GREENSKY HAS helped to
create Scotland’s largest wildflower and sedum green roof on a new £842 million hospital complex in Glasgow. The award winning green roof department of Albrighton-based Boningale Nurseries won the contract from Frosts Landscape Construction Ltd to supply and deliver 40,000 specially grown sedum plug plants, cuttings and wildflower seed for the hospital’s multifaceted green roof. The new hospital complex features a 1,109 bed adult hospital and a 256 bed children’s hospital and is the largest single NHS hospital build project in Scotland. Rooms will have views over the biodiverse sedum and wild flower roofs which have been formed over 10 areas stretching more than 6,000 square metres. Maggie Fennell, technical green roof expert at Boningale GreenSky, said: “We were thrilled to be involved with this project, not only because of its enormity and significance for
Scotland, but because of all the associated eco-benefits this huge green roof will generate for the locality. Importantly, it will also provide a beautiful and peaceful vista for the hospital’s patients and staff.” Boningale GreenSky’s SkyPlugs were specified because they have been uniquely created to thrive in the harsh conditions of a rooftop environment. Rather than being grown in unsuitable rich, fibrous peat, they are in a mix of peat-free growing medium and substrate, which mimics the conditions they are to be planted in. Maggie, who work with the technology experts at the University of Sheffield’s Green Roof Centre to develop and academically research plug plants and substrates, added: “This growing technique ensures the rootball is strong and is able to grow out of the plug space as soon as possible, giving them maximum chance of establishing and surviving. We look forward to seeing how the green roof flourishes at this fantastic new hospital complex.”
At www.boningale-greensky.co.uk, contractors, designers and architects involved with green roof design can access a range of free web tools and green roof guides. This also includes the award winning substrate selector tool, which has been developed using PhD research to determine the best product for different performance criteria, maintenance requirements and local rainfall levels. q
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