No longer the preserve of pigeons, roof gardens are being resurrected. So throw away your beaded curtains and take down your clothes horse as Jamie Younger talks to John Rice director of Urban Roof Gardens Ltd about the benefits of investing some time (and a little money) into your rooftop.

Good to speak to you John you’re a little bit busy at the moment
right?

We are very busy. Urban Roof Gardens Ltd has taken off at an incredible pace; there’s been an unbelievable amount of interest recently. We get between eight to fifteen enquiries a week and are dealing with £600,000 – £800,000 of work at any one time.

For those people reading this interview not knowing who Urban Roof Gardens Ltd are, briefly describe what it is you do.

Well, we are the only company in the United Kingdom who solely focus on roof gardens. We offer everything from design to construction, from conception to completion, a one-stop shop I suppose. We have our own teams dealing with all aspects of the build. Whether it’s design & architectural drawings in AutoCAD planning applications or building regulations, we have all the knowledge in-house enabling us to offer a very complete service.

So if I approached you with the idea of reinvigorating my roof garden, what would you do?

What we prefer to do is meet the you at your home and have a look at your current site, if there is one, and see what problems we may come across regarding any planning issues. This is always the biggest stumbling block. From there we develop your brief and look at costing it for you.

I’m presuming it’s going to be expensive dealing with the planners, designing the garden itself and not to mention the cost of materials and furniture on top of that.

It doesn’t have to be, we deal with a variety of different clients, everything from £4,000 to £150,000 gardens in property valued between £195,000 to £15,000,000. It all depends on what the customer wants, what their budget is and what we have to begin with. There’s no particular style; every one is different and individual to the customers needs,

You mentioned planning approval, is that a big problem?

The biggest issue we regularly deal with is the roof garden or roof terrace overlooking somebody else’s property and that is the main cause of problems with a build, but that can be resolved in some cases by erecting a screen of frosted glass or a planting screen like bamboo. Also is it able to support the garden and its accessories? Often reinforcements need to be made, as the majority of roof structures weren’t designed to be used in the way we are intending and that can be the biggest cost involved.

What are the benefits of investing a bit of time and money into your roof garden?

There are so many. Obviously one of the major benefits is the fact that you are helping the environment. We have in London some of the best parks in the world; they’re like the lungs of the city. The majority of roof gardens are in large cities, so just imagine all that available space on rooftops, there’s 1,000s of acres of space waiting to be reclaimed and our aim is to reclaim that space and bring a bit of nature to the rooftops. Roof gardens clean the air and help the water table as well as providing a haven for all manner of wildlife from birds to insects.

The way you could look at it is that people want the space to relax and to entertain friends, that is he primary reason for people wanting roof gardens. The by-product of having a roof garden is that you are creating a space that will also benefit the environment.

Another aspect is that by having a roof garden as part of your property, you are adding another feature. There is an amount of uncertainty in the property market about the value of houses ceasing to rise and prices beginning to fall. By adding a roof garden, your property will be more desirable. The price of your property may fall, as will the surrounding properties, but the premium of having a roof garden will remain the same. It will be worth more with a roof garden than without.

People use their roof gardens as an extension of their homes. A gentleman we recently completed a roof garden for, eats out in his garden most of the time; we’ve reclaimed the flat roof next to his lounge and extended his living space outside.

I suppose it’s a good way of looking at it, creating an extra ‘room’ for your home. Is that an idea you present to people?

What we are trying to do is use modern production techniques to furnish roof gardens. We have a small portfolio of in house companies, which includes an interior design company, so it would be foolish not to bring an aspect of that into our garden design. We have just completed an installation into an important Georgian home which involved lifting product onto its roof using a 25 tonne crane, so it’s by no means a small project. We’ve tried to create a similar style for the roof garden and balconies as in the clients property by adding replica period items like obelisks, traditional trellis and planters and a blend of high quality modern furniture.
decision about how they want to use a roof garden. Generally people want it as a place to entertain guests and relax,

Being the only company in the United Kingdom that solely concentrates on roof gardens, how are you making yourselves known to those thousands of people in the UK that have a roof garden but aren’t using it to its best abilities?

We do a lot of promotional work, for example we got involved last year with the BBC’s coverage of the Chelsea Flower show when we helped them with their roof garden feature. Also we hope the individual Borough Councils throughout London have begun to notice the work we are doing in promoting roof gardens and their great benefit to Londoners from an environmental aspect to breathe some life into our city’s rooftops.

Our biggest project, which is under constant development, is our website. We are continuously adding information to it with the idea that it should have now become the ultimate online resource for anybody interested in roof gardens. Whether you are an architect, builder, landscapes designer or a member of the general public, you will be able to find all the information you want on one website. Our online resource section will continue to grow, there you will be able to find all products currently associated with roof gardens and also read about other peoples experiences when building roof gardens. Basically, people will be able to visit our site and have all the information they could possibly need.

Sounds like a challenging project, I wish you the best of luck, thank you very much for taking the time to speak to me.

It’s very challenging, but will prove very worthwhile for the future of roof gardens. Thank you.

Interview by Jamie Younger, Editor in Chief