Everything going green

The City of Melbourne in partnership with three other councils and the University of Melbourne have launched a program encouraging businesses to turn walls, facades and even roofs of their buildings into green habitats.

In similar style to the Fyto green gardens on some buildings already in Southbank, the Growing Green Guide for Melbourne is an industry “how to guide” letting businesses of all sizes know how they can green up their outside office space.

Councillor Cathy Oke was thrilled with the idea and couldn’t wait to see more green around the city.

“Green roofs, walls and facades are an increasingly common sight on buildings in major cities around the world.

They are now considered an essential part of urban design to provide more vegetation and green spaces in dense urban environments,” Cr Oke said.

John Rayner from the University of Melbourne said: “Green roofs and walls contribute significant environmental and amenity benifits to cities.

They can reduce urban heat loadings and stormwater run-off, increase the energy efficiency and liveability of buildings, provide a range of habitat outcomes and even produce food.”