AT A GLANCE
Measurable benefits – biodiverse green roofs can be retrofitted onto existing buildings as a scalable, cost-effective solution to help cool our cities.
Living research platform – real-time data on biodiversity, stormwater, and climate performance to shape future green roof policy and practice.
Ecosystem in the sky – environmental, visual, and ecological benefits while strengthening the city’s wider urban greening network.
Cities are becoming hotter, denser, and more vulnerable to unpredictable weather. At the same time, biodiversity loss is accelerating, leaving urban environments under growing pressure. Green Our Rooftop transforms an underused roof into a living lab, showing how green infrastructure can make cities cooler, greener, and more resilient.
Placed on top of 1 Treasury Place, a heritage-listed Victorian Government office in Melbourne, the project shows what’s possible when design, science, and policy come together. In collaboration with Super Bloom and the University of Melbourne’s Green Infrastructure Research Group, Hassell designed this testbed garden as a new approach to urban greening.
The garden was deliberately designed to measure the ecological and climatic benefits of biodiverse plantings — habitat creation, biodiversity support, stormwater retention, and cooling performance can all be tracked. Researchers from the University of Melbourne’s Green Infrastructure Research Group are testing different green roof types, assessing their costs and performance for at least 12 months. The insights will help break down industry barriers and make green roofs more accessible for future projects.
Plants were chosen for their seasonal variation, texture, and colour, creating an evolving landscape that supports pollinators and birdlife while cooling the city, filtering pollutants, absorbing rainwater, and providing food and shelter for urban wildlife.
The retrofit model challenges the common misconception of green roofs being too complex or expensive. Instead, it demonstrates that they are an affordable, scalable solution that can be integrated into cities at pace and at scale.
Green Our Rooftop is an advocacy tool that demonstrates biodiverse green roofs are not only achievable, but essential to the future of sustainable, liveable cities.
