Chelsea, Forums and Green Roofs

Chelsea Flower Show on Tuesday.

As I was involved in the organisation of a joint City/Luxembourg conference on Sustainable Finance, I didn't get to Chelsea until quite late in the day, however, it was worth it as the "Chelsea After Dark" event offered the opportunity to look around without the crowds.

It was the first day of sunshine we had had in weeks, so I could enjoyed the Low Water Gardens with no sense of irony. 

The Water Aid garden, really reminded me of the gardens I have seen in Rwanda and Tanzania

Veolia's low water garden was particularly pretty (it had won a Silver Gilt medal). It is incredible the way these gardens look as though they have been in place for decades, when they are so ephemeral.

The moss garden was my favorite. It looked like something out of Tolkein

Luckily, the hosepipe ban (Temporary Use Ban) was suspended for landscape gardeners due to the dreadful weather we have had throughout April and most of May.

Which brings me neatly to the topic of water, which was the theme of our latest City Transport and Sustainability Forum. 

Unfortunately, the brilliant sunshine meant that the Forums ranks were thinned down to a dozen or so people who were willing to give their lunchtimes up to sit in an underground room.

However, our speakers gave a bravura perfomance-

Thames Water gave a clear explanation of why the recent rain has helped, but not solved the drought caused by two dry winters on the trot. 

Inder Poonaji, head of SD at Nestle UK spoke very eloquently about the importance of water to the food industry and gave some startling statistics about how much water was embedded in imported food.   

And Land Use consultants spoke about their "Green  Infrastructure Audit" of Cheapside. The purpose of the project, funded by Drain London and comissioned by the Cheapside Initiative ( http://www.incheapside.com/) is to identify opportunities for urban greening in the Cheapside area.

Its a really great project, and LUC really produced some encouraging figures- apparently we have the highest concentration of green roofs in the UK in the City. 



Meadows in the Sky by St Paul's



My final meeting of the week at was at the Museum of London, with some of the people who are leading the green roof revolution. Interesting plans are afoot to develop an umbrella body to promote "blue-green" infrastructure for the Capital.  We have world leading expertise in managing urban water systems and improving biodiversity, and the idea is to set up a network that can promote ideas, skills and products internationally.

I'll let you know how things develop. 

Busy week this week, so my next post will include the City Residents meeting, the perils of flood insurance and the London Climate Change Partnership.