A company that transforms bus stops and bike sheds into thriving ecosystems has been named the winner of the third annual Green Infrastructure Design Challenge.
Green Roof Shelters was awarded the prize at Ecobuild last month, by competition organisers CIBSE and the Adaptation and Resilience in a Changing Climate network (ARCC), part of the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP).
Teams had to submit designs of buildings – existing or in planning – that demonstrated how indoor and outdoor green infrastructure can contribute to the health and wellbeing of occupants, while also improving the building’s energy efficiency and climatic resilience.
The four finalists each gave a summary of their designs at Ecobuild. Winning team Green Roof Shelters takes functional structures – such as bus stops, bin-storage units and bike sheds – and turns them into individual ecosystems. Vertical surfaces offer habitats for insects and small mammals, while horizontal surfaces provide pollen and nectar. The green roofs can also be designed to trap water, which can irrigate mini-wetlands.
John Little, of Green Roof Shelters, said: ‘Communities need cycle and bus shelters. If you’re going to have such structures, why not use them for more than one purpose?’
Architects Hawkins/Brown was awarded second prize for its design for the Urban Sciences Building at Newcastle University – an integration of parkland and building, that blurred the distinction between interior and exterior, and maximised the use of vegetation.
The other finalists were low energy building designers RCZM, and building engineers XCO2.
Submitted designs and challenge details can be viewed here.
- UKCIP, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, offers a UK-wide network to develop knowledge and evidence to inform policy and practice