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RBC Blue Water Roof Garden Explores ‘Skyrise
Greening’ At Chelsea 2013
RHS Chelsea's first full 'living roof' to be
exhibited at centenary show
RBC Blue Water Roof Garden.
LONDON, November 29, 2012 - Royal Bank of Canada
today announced its partnership with Olympic Park designer
Nigel Dunnett and The Landscape Agency to present the "RBC
Blue Water Roof Garden" at the 2013 RHS Chelsea Flower
Show (21 - 25 May 2013). This is the third successive year
that the team has collaborated, following the RBC Blue Water
Garden (2012) and the RBC New Wild Garden (2011), which were
both awarded Silver-Gilt medals.
The garden is in keeping with the goals of RBC
Blue Water Project - a wide-ranging, 10-year global commitment
to help protect the world's most precious natural resource:
fresh water. The design of the RBC Blue Water Roof Garden
addresses two important issues - the need for effective urban
water management, and for more green spaces in built-up areas.
The garden is a creative solution that brings trees, meadows
and wetlands into the heart of the densest of cities, while
promoting water-sensitive design. It is the first example
at RHS Chelsea of a full 'living roof', which aims to encourage
wildlife and habitat biodiversity along with sustainable water
management, in an urban rooftop setting.
Nigel Dunnett, Lead Designer on the project, commented: "With
limited space available on street-level, urban planners really
need to look skywards for the green spaces that will allow
people in cities like London to maximize their contact with
nature. We have extended the water preservation themes explored
in our previous Chelsea gardens, and turned our attention
to creating a 'living roof' that is able to collect and filter
rainwater allowing vegetation to flourish atop sky rise buildings
all year round."
Filled with flower-rich planting, the RBC Blue Water Roof
Garden features a central wetland that harvests and circulates
rainwater runoff to irrigate the garden. Trees envelop the
garden, with a low-tech, low-irrigation living wall of drought-tolerant
succulents grown in stacked terracotta units used to separate
the space from adjacent rooftops. The materials and choice
of flowers - many of which originate from RBC's native Canada
- have been carefully selected to attract and foster local
wildlife, while seating areas flow seamlessly into the varied
landform. A winding boardwalk leads to a dramatic 'bird hide'
structure clad in habitat panels, from which the biodiverse
surroundings can be observed uninterrupted. The rooftop 'furniture'
of vents, chimneys and air conditioning units become habitat
and design features in themselves.
Harry Samuel, CEO, Europe at RBC Capital Markets, said: "In
keeping with previous years, the design team has created a
garden that is both innovative and sustainable, thus closely
aligned to the RBC Blue Water Project, our global program
concerned with water stewardship."
Mike Moodie, head of RBC Wealth Management's UK business,
said: "The recent floods and droughts in England remind
us of the importance of water management principles. The RBC
Blue Water Project is doing some great work here in London,
not only through raising awareness at Chelsea, but also through
a recent grant to Thames 21, a charity that works with communities
across Greater London to improve the rivers, canals, ponds
and lakes for people and wildlife. It is our hope that this
garden will help keep effective water management at the forefront
of people's minds."
About Nigel Dunnett and the Landscape
Agency
Nigel Dunnett is Professor of Planting Design, and Director
of the Green Roof Centre, University of Sheffield. He is one
of the UK´s foremost planting designers, and exponent
of sustainable landscape and garden design, and originated
the concept of `Pictorial Meadows´. He has won RHS Silver-Gilt
Medals at Chelsea in 2009, 2011 and 2012, and was lead horticultural
and planting design consultant for the London 2012 Olympic
Park, and joint designer of the Olympic 2012 gardens. The
Landscape Agency is one of the leading landscape design and
landscape masterplanning consultancies in Britain. Together,
Nigel Dunnett and the Landscape Agency have designed Central
London's first suite of street-side rain gardens.
About the RBC Blue Water Project
Launched in 2007, the RBC Blue Water Project is a wide-ranging,
10-year global commitment to help protect the world's most
precious natural resource: fresh water. Through an historic
philanthropic commitment, RBC has pledged over C$42 million
to date to more than 500 not-for-profit organizations worldwide
that protect watersheds. In 2013-2014, the RBC Blue Water
Project will focus on supporting initiatives that help protect
and preserve water in towns, cities and urbanized areas. For
further information, visit www.rbc.com/bluewater.
About RBC
Royal Bank of Canada (RY on TSX and NYSE) and its subsidiaries
operate under the master brand name RBC. We are Canada's largest
bank as measured by assets and market capitalization, and
among the largest banks in the world, based on market capitalization.
We are one of North America's leading diversified financial
services companies, and provide personal and commercial banking,
wealth management services, insurance, investor services and
wholesale banking on a global basis. We employ approximately
80,000 full- and part-time employees who serve more than 15
million personal, business, public sector and institutional
clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 49 other countries.
For more information, please visit rbc.com.
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Media Enquiries:
Paul French, +44 (0) 207 002 2013, paul.french@rbc.com
Timi Oni, +44 (0) 207 653 4516, timi.oni@rbc.com
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