Green Roofs: The Ultimate Guide

a green roof on an extension to a london home
(Image credit: Juliet Murphy for Iguana Architects)

Green roofs come in all shapes and sizes — from micro set-ups on a garden shed to vast rooftop gardens for modern self build homes. 

While they may be a new standard for commercial buildings - London now has regulations in place requiring buildings of a certain size and function to have a green roof after all - planted roofing has significantly grown in popularity for residential properties too. 

Tim Pullen

Tim is an expert in sustainable building methods and energy efficiency in residential homes and writes on the subject for magazines and national newspapers. He is the author of The Sustainable Building Bible, Simply Sustainable Homes and Anaerobic Digestion - Making Biogas - Making Energy: The Earthscan Expert Guide.


His interest in renewable energy and sustainability was first inspired by visits to the Royal Festival Hall heat pump and the Edmonton heat-from-waste projects. In 1979

this initial burst of enthusiasm lead to him trying (and failing) to build a biogas digester to convert pig manure into fuel, at a Kent oast-house, his first conversion project.


Moving in 2002 to a small-holding in South Wales, providing as it did access to a wider range of natural resources, fanned his enthusiasm for sustainability. He went on to install renewable technology at the property, including biomass boiler and wind turbine.


He formally ran energy efficiency consultancy WeatherWorks and was a speaker and expert at the Homebuilding & Renovating Shows across the country.