Shanghai Green Roof Congress

Gary Grant of the Green Roof Consultancy is doing a blog for livingroofs.org whilst he is at the Shanghai World Expo and the Green Roof Congress. He will be presenting a paper on green walls and another on green roofs in London.

Shanghai Expo - May 11th

11th May

My last day in Shanghai. Some time for sightseeing in the wonderful ancient town of Zhouzhuang and time to reflect on what I have seen and heard during the last few days. First Zhouzhang. It is a wonderful town of canals and old houses close to some wonderful lakes. Many of the old stone bridges date from the Wanli era (1573-1617) and have great charm. Being gently sculled along the canals in a traditional wooden boat by a charming lady was a real pleasure. She even sang, although she may have been the inspiration for the original car alarm (sorry no offence intended).

Shanghai Expo - May 10th

May 10th

This is the last day of the conference here in Shanghai and we are visiting a number of green roof projects in the city. First up is a cluster of a few dozen sedum roofs in the Yangpu District. There is strong political support for these roofs, which are largely retrofitted onto existing concrete decks.

Shanghai Expo - May 9th

9th May

Back to the Shanghai World Expo today. First stop the ZED factory. BedZED has now reached China (see photo). This example at the Expo is similar in look, with perhaps more stainless steel than Beddington, but nevertheless a move in the right direction. The green roof element (which is a sedum mat in Beddington) is constructed from modular steel trays in this Shanghai example. The emphasis is clearly on adornment rather than functionality. Rainwater was flowing underneath the planted trays (which have tell-take irrigation lines) so not much was being achieved in terms of sustainable drainage.

Green Roof Conference - 8th May

8th May

The World Green Roof Conference was a one day event at the Tongji University. The morning involved the necessary formalities with a number of distinguished academics and politicians welcoming the delegates and underlining their support for roof greening. Dignitaries included Zhou Ganzhi a member of the Chinese Academy of Science and Academy of Engineering and a former Minister of Construction. It is clear that there is high level support for city greening and an interest in zero carbon development using 'high-technology'. There is much interest in the development of home grown roof greening products.

Shanghai Expo - May 7th

May 7th

The Shanghai World Expo is the latest in a long line of International Cultural and Trade Fairs that have their origins in the Great Exhibition of 1851. The chinese offficials I met were very excited at this opportunity to show off China's capabilities in organising such an event which is bigger than anything before and has more countries participating than any previous event. Nowadays the main focus is on sustainable, low carbon development, the greening of cities and the creation of a fairer society. The event has cost China more than the Olympics and the organisers expect to have more than 70 million visitors this summer.