Singapore has long been famous for being the city of gardens. The beauty of this country has always been enhanced with aesthetically pleasing manmade and natural landscapes and water bodies. Vertical gardens and rooftop gardens in Singapore are the latest trends to beautify the landscape.
In addition to the aesthetic value of a rooftop garden, it also has several environmental significances. Its comprehensive value makes rooftop gardens an excellent investment for homeowners, corporates and public buildings. Landscape artists and experts have started using low-maintenance irrigation systems, structured gardening techniques and artificial grass in Singapore for these gardens. But as a homeowner or a business owner, you need to understand whether this investment makes sense for you. Without further ado let’s delve into that…
7 Benefits of A Rooftop Garden in Singapore
- Stormwater conservation – Water bills for corporate buildings are often astronomically high. And with the depleting resources of fresh water, all businesses, public organisations and households need to start conserving stormwater. With new-age low-maintenance water irrigation systems, rainwater or stormwater can be reused to water the plants in the rooftop gardens.
- Direct access to fresh produce – Once upon a time, Singapore was known for its agricultural values. However, with the concrete high-rises less than 1% of its land is dedicated to farming, now. But with initiatives like urban farming, rooftop farming and the Edible Garden City initiative, rooftop farming is coming back into the trend. If you’re a homeowner you can start your small rooftop garden dedicated to gardening or farming. And if you’re a business or public building, you can aim for strategic partnerships with social enterprises such as Edible Garden City to develop a rooftop farm.
- Household recreation – One of the most common worries of parents nowadays is that their kids spend more time looking at their screens than anything else. And the harmful impact of that on kids’ health needs no discussion. So, introduce a new, healthy and productive hobby into your kids’ routine. Spend time as a family gardening on your rooftop. Teach them about green roof maintenance and come up with a plan together.
- Improve energy efficiency – The average household energy consumption in Singapore amounts to 8.3 terawatt hours. This is a small fraction of the country’s overall energy consumption for a year which amounts to over 53 terawatt hours. Considering the ill effects of depleting fossil fuels, climate change and more, all buildings in Singapore must improve their energy efficiency. And with rooftop gardening, you can keep the temperature of the roof surface 40 degrees Celsius lower than conventional roofs. Therefore, you’d require less cooling and air conditioning in the building. Additionally, adequate green roof maintenance can also reduce the ambient temperature of a city significantly.
- Reducing heat-island impact – Heat-island impact can increase the time taken for night-time cooling and daytime heating. Also, the heat island impact severely damages the air quality by increasing the pollution quotient. With the use of a rooftop garden, you can reduce roof surface temperature, induce cooling in the surrounding air and reduce pollution.
Investing in a well-planned and well-structured green roof or rooftop farm is not only beneficial for your household or business but also for the environment. An adequate number of rooftop gardens in Singapore can have a substantially positive impact on its climate and environment.
Consult your horticulturist or landscape artist today for effective green roof maintenance tips and invest in a rooftop garden!