A childcare centre featuring a cutting edge green roof has been opened in Balwyn North in Melbourne.
A childcare centre featuring a cutting edge green roof has been opened in Balwyn North in Melbourne. This is the first time a green roof of its size (450 square metres) has been created on top of a single-storey building outside Melbourne’s CBD and in a suburban park setting.
Minifie Childcare Centre’s new green roof helps the building blend with its surroundings, particularly when viewed from the adjacent street, and has created a haven for birds and insects indigenous to the area.
As the roof is lightweight, small indigenous plants that grow no higher than 1 metre have been used. The roof’s plants and soil insulate the childcare centre, reducing energy needs. In addition, the plants’ respiration provides natural evaporative cooling in the warmer months, cutting the roof surface temperature by up to 30 degrees Celsius in summer.
City of Boroondara maintenance staff have ladder access to the roof to ensure cats, dogs and foxes cannot access the rooftop microenvironment.
