An exciting new secondary school in Grangemouth has been built with a biodiverse roof garden that can be used by pupils and teachers for outdoor learning. This green roof is over 300m2 in size and will provide many benefits for wildlife and for people in the school and the surrounding area.
Carrongrange High School has been purpose built for the almost 170 pupils that have a range of support requirements. An important feature of the roof garden is that it has been designed so that pupils and teachers will be able to easily access different natural features.
The roof has a wide paved footpath that allows access for pupils in wheelchairs, and unique, hand-carved benches that allow pupils to sit at either end of the garden. There are a range of plants including the garden plants like Chives, Thrift and Heathers, and also a wildflower mat with a wide range of native species that are already providing important food for bumblebees!
This is the second green roof to be installed in Grangemouth, both through the Inner Forth Landscape Initiative ‘Glorious Green Roof’ project, which has been managed by Buglife, and is funded by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the EU LIFE programme. The first green roof was installed at a building owned by CalaChem in May 2016.
Not only will both green roofs act as stepping stones for wildlife, allowing the movement and mixing of individuals and species across Grangemouth, they will also improve cooling of the buildings in the summer and insulation in the winter, and increase the lifespan of the roof thus saving energy.
Suzanne Burgess, Scotland Manager with Buglife said “this beautiful green roof acts as a garden for pupils to access and use either to sit or to use for learning. Not only that, the roof is also important for pollinators and will help species move across Grangemouth and further afield”
Paul Sizeland of the EU EcoCo LIFE project said; “This is another great example of Buglife’s creative work to provide a quality environment for people in all situations and for nature, with EU funding in partnership with others.”
Thomas Churchyard, IFLI’s Programme Manager, added: “In these financially tight times this new green roof highlights what can be achieved when organisations work together for the benefit of local communities.”
Jack Aitken, Education Design Co-ordinator for Falkirk Council said; “Falkirk Council have been aware of the benefits of’ green roofs’ for a number of years and have installed a number of them on our schools but Carrongrange High School now has our first, fully accessible, ‘roof garden’. Thanks to Buglife and the funders we now have a facility which will provide significant educational and environmental benefits for years to come.”
Gillian Robertson, Head teacher for Carron grange High School, added; “This fabulous garden area will benefit all of our pupils. The creative design and accessibility is inspirational and provides a motivational learning area and an area where pupils can relax and socialise. It is a wonderful addition to a purpose built, state of the art special school and I very much look forward to seeing our pupils making full use of this space.”
The roof was installed by ICB Projects.
