Green roofs in Wittevrouwen district
The green roofs project in Utrecht’s Wittevrouwen district began in 2014, when a resident of the district wanted to plant a green roof atop her building extension, using the subsidy scheme provided by the city of Utrecht. However, the building extension did not meet the minimum surface area required to qualify for such subsidy, viz. 25 m2. The subsidy scheme did provide an option to submit a collective application for several households.
The resident put a call out in the district and this resulted in a group of 5-6 enthusiastic neighbours, all of whom wanted to green their extensions. It did require considerable perseverance and much patience because the subsidy rules were clearly not tailored to this type of collective application, in which several homeowners, different types of green roof systems and different suppliers were involved.
Results
The planting was successful! The great thing about the collective application was that it enabled homeowners with small roof surface areas to qualify for the subsidy. For many people, a subsidy is just the push they need to take part in such a venture. And such a neighbourhood collective is inspiring, because residents are able to share with each other the challenges they encounter and what possibilities there are.
Contact person
Erwin Rebergen
Gemeente Utrecht
+31 (0)6 14 51 44 74
e.rebergen@utrecht.nl