Hannah Meara of Bridgman & Bridgman LLP writes:

6th June is World Green Roof Day and to celebrate, Bridgman & Bridgman and the Green Roof Project co-hosted a Community Lunch with YMCA Milton Keynes on their green roof. We have so much to celebrate! Milton Keynes is ranked number 2 in cities outside London with the most amount of intensive green roofs.

This year’s theme for World Green Roof Day is Energy on Roofs. There was certainly some great energy at the community lunch. Over 60 guests including the Mayor of Milton Keynes and the Youth Mayor joined the celebration. The Mayor of Milton Keynes joined in the fun energy by cycling herself a smoothie on the 9th-floor oasis.

Guests learnt more about the benefits of using rooftop space, to improve biodiversity, reduce flooding, grow food, produce energy, and create incredible spaces for people to enjoy.

The YMCA Milton Keynes is home to over 200 young people between 18 and 35; guests had a chance to meet the other residents, 200,000 Buckfast Bees and discover more about beekeeping from Steven Robinson from Mr. Robs Honey.

One of the day’s highlights was the unveiling of a new mural, created by artist Luke McDonnell. The mural imagines the Milton Keynes skyscape in 2050 when the city aims to become carbon-negative. The mural depicts swathes of green roofs, social rooftop spaces and sustainable energy production. The playful scene shows the iconic Point floating in the air and the Midsummer Tree preserved in all its former glory.

To find out more about World Green Roof Day 2024 check out #WGRD2024 on social media.

In this time of climate emergency and biodiversity loss, we can utilise large areas of space that already exist to bring together communities and nature here in Milton Keynes – our flat, city rooftops. The YMCA project gives a flavour of what can be achieved and aims to inspire others to create gardens in the sky.
~ Chris Bridgman, Bridgman and Bridgman

Young people are disproportionately affected by environmental damage because they will be here longer to experience it.  We need to make some fundamental changes to how we treat nature in our society and the creation of green roofs is a great way to have an impact in a positive way.  We know from our own green roof how wonderful it is to have a secret place where nature thrives and where staff and residents can spend time and improve their wellbeing.  If you’re not convinced then I invite you to come and see ours and experience the benefits first-hand.
~ Simon Green, YMCA Milton Keynes

World Green Roof Day 2024
Since the first World Green Roof Day on 6^th June 2020 people all over the world have proudly shared their green roofs, either online through social media or, if safe to do so, by opening them up to the public. This year World Green Roof Day is all about celebrating Energy on Roofs. Last year over 60 countries, from Brazil to South Africa, took part to showcase a diversity of vegetation and rooftop usage. To follow World Green Roof Day on socials, follow #WGRD2024

The Green Roof Project
The Green Roof Project created a ‘meanwhile project’ to showcase a green roof Live Lab on the roof of Saxon Court in Milton Keynes. As part of the project, we trained a number of residents from the YMCA Milton Keynes in green roofing. As a legacy, we relocated the green roof to the YMCA. Central Milton Keynes (CMK) currently has the equivalent of six full-size football pitches that could be retrofitted with a green roof. We hope that by using the YMCA to demonstrate green roof potential, we can persuade other local buildings to follow them and join the green roof revolution.
www.gardensinthesky.co.uk/green-roof-project

YMCA Milton Keynes
YMCA MK provide local young people with a safe place to call home, people they can trust and support to fulfil their potential. Our young people already have the tools they need to belong, contribute, and thrive. We just help them along.
www.mkymca.com

Read more: So Much Energy for World Green Roof Day 2024