Due to the nature of the building and the importance of encouraging a biodiversity environment around new buildings, Devington Homes employed a Landscape architect – Rathbone Partnership - to consider the issues for 2 main areas of the development – the roof and the meadow land between the building and the rail track.
As a result Maritime Accommodation has a fully planted 'green' roof which supports a variety of vegetation growth. Not only is this visually appealing, it is eco-friendly and improves air-quality.
Maritime Landscape Design Philosophy
The aim of the design is to:- Protect and retain as many of the Holm oaks as possible on the Castle Drive cliff face.
- To mitigate the impact of the proposed building from views from the town quays by planting trees along the western boundary. Tilia cordata is proposed because it is native, tolerant of an urban environment and has cordate roots which rarely interfere with services and drains.
- Reflect the simplicity and robust nature of the industrial, commercial and maritime characteristics of the site.
- To maximize where possible the ecological diversity of the site. This can be achieved in the Railtrack easement zone; and it is proposed that the area should be managed as a herb rich grass sward. The existing gorse will be removed to allow for the colonisation of different herb and grass species. In addition, appropriate herb and wild flower species will be seeded to enrich the existing population.
- Colonisation of prostrate toadflax and other herb species, such as kidney vetch and wild carrot could be encouraged by controlling the growth of Budlejia and gorse, as these tend to shade out the smaller plants. Skilled annual maintenance co-ordinated under a resident’s management agreement should achieve such a control.
- To create a vegetated roof to visually mitigate the impact of the building in relation to the wooded cliff of Castle Drive, particularly from overhead views.
- To create a new ‘island’ of ecological diversity for the local wildlife on the roof , this will also help to reduce surface runoff and will provide additional ‘natural’ insulation to the building. This type of roof is known as a biodiverse, brown roof. It is has been designed and constructed with Blackdown Horticultural Consultants, who are specialist green roof company. It is not accessible to residents.
Approximately 15% of the roof is planted up; and 85% is left as clean brick rubble seeded with a low maintenance wild flower mix. Branches cut from the neighbouring holm oaks will be placed on the ‘brown roof’ to provide shelter for invertebrates and nesting birds. This will provide both a range of habitats and easy access for an annual maintenance visit. The latter is important to control ruderals and other seedlings such as sycamore and Holm oak that are not suitable in a roof garden situation. It is also important to ensure that the shrub species are not allowed to colonise the roof garden at the expense of the native ‘pioneer’ groundcover and grass species.
The species have been chosen because they are :
- tolerant to the tough environmental conditions to be found on the roof, such as drought and wind.
- native and will provide shelter and food for birds and invertebrates
- a mix of deciduous and evergreen to provide a green and colourful top to the roof through out the year.
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