Biodiverse improvement options for your home

As well as saving carbon you can also add lots of things to your home to improve biodiversity. There are a number of benefits from this:

Carbon capture - plants remove CO2 from the atmosphere and help combat global warming

Air quality improvements - all plants remove particulate matter from the atmosphere and some of them do it better than others

Cooling - green roofs and living walls absorb solar glare and cool down the building they are attached to

Sustainable drainage - green roofs and living walls retain water and reduce urban runoff

Biodiversity - buildings take up space that was once part of nature, putting in biodiversity features helps replace this and provides new habitats

Here are some suggestions that would be suitable for your property and an indication of there effects.

Available options

Available options

Measure and benefits

Size m2

What does it look like

Carbon captured kg a year *

Energy saving kwh per year **

Comments

Green roof - improves biodiversity cools the room below and absorbs pollution

This is looking at a lightweight green roof retrofitted to the rear extension with the flat roof.

Bat bricks and boxes - provide much needed habitat for bats

Whilst carrying out your retrofit there may be an opportunity to add bat boxes to appropriate sites on your walls

Swift boxes - 8m above ground

These might fit nicely in your eaves, other types of bird box could be added elsewhere.

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As well as the green roofs and boxes for birds there are opportunities at your property for biodiversity improvement in the garden. Consider planting for wildlife, adding pond areas, hawthorns and other native plants.

* carbon captured figures taken from CO2 Payoff of Extensive Green Roofs with Different

Vegetation Species MDPI 2018

** energy saving figures based on reduction in heating and cooling requirements due to a green roof in Living Roofs and Walls Technical Report: Supporting London Plan Policy GLA 2008

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https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/opinion/three-things-you-need-to-consider-when-retrofitting-a-green-roof⁠

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