Polypipe Infragreen Conference in London, the Blue-Green revolution

On June 28th, Polypipe organised the first edition of the Polypipe Infragreen Conference in London, UK.

In a world of increasing urbanization, coupled with the growing effects of climate change, the conference explored the crucial role of intelligent water management in securing a greener, more resilient future for our cities.

Key figures from the architecture, construction, policy and planning community came together for a day of discussion led by industry experts in Water Management Solutions and Urban Green Infrastructure.

Peter Massini, Principal Policy & Programme Officer for the Greater London Authority elaborated on the value of combining stormwater management with Green Infrastructure and the inclusion of Blue-Green solutions in the New London Plan. (See for example Page 361 and 362; Policy SI13 Sustainable drainage).

Dusty Gedge, current President of the European Federation of Green Roof Associations and founder of Livingroofs.org, explained the importance of providing ample soil and (rain-) water for truly biodiverse blue-green roofs, summarized as ‘Blue Green Wild Shaggy Meadow Biodiverse Amenity Roofs’ by Polypipe’s own Sean Robinson.

Joris Voeten (Engineer Urban Green Space at Urban Roofscapes) discussed the results of scientific research being done at Project Smartroof 2.0 in Amsterdam. The results of the 2017 growing season show that surface temperatures of blue-green roofs are on average 40^o Celsius lower when compared to conventional black roofing materials and that plant evaporation with the Permavoid Capillary irrigated Blue-Green roof systems surpasses conventional green roof systems with 42 over 18 litres evapotranspirated per m2, in a dry spell lasting 14 days in 2017.

This information and technology leading event created a foundation under the Blue-Green Infrastructure movement, from policy, to technology, via scientific research, all the way through to a vision of how the future should be, and can be, for for example Thames Mead in London with a 20 year development plan by Peabody, as was discussed by Dr. Phil Askew, Director Landscape & Placemaking at Peabody.

Videos of the presentations are availble from Polypipe’s website. We are looking forward to the second edition of this fact-packed event!