DALSTON ROOF PARK

Dalston Roof Park

DALSTON ROOF PARK

RESET is currently conducting community consultation and facilitating particpatory planning of a public, sustainable roof park in the centre of Dalston. The project itself is being coordinated by the charity Bootstrap Company, the owners of ‘The Print House’, the historic building on top of which the roof park will be developed. The focus of RESET’s work during the initial feasibility stage is based around supporting Bootstrap develop an appropriate brief in response to the needs of the local community, as well as helping to develop appropriate educational training programmes and workshops.

Bootstrap Company is a charitable development trust working in the centre of Dalston, Hackney, north London. The Trust manages workspaces for small, creative and social businesses and the community and voluntary sector. One of Bootstrap Company’s core objectives is to improve the environment in Dalston by developing and implementing creative and sustainable plans for the regeneration of the area. Dalston is currently the second most deprived council area in England and has very little access to green space. In Dalston only 12% of its land is devoted to green space while the London average is 38%. It has a thriving diverse community with a tradition of small local businesses.

The roof park is an opportunity to take advantage of the unused space on the roof of the building, to make a public space where the local community can enjoy being outside in a natural environment in the heart of Dalston. The project has been accepted as part of the Mayor of London’s “Great Spaces” initiative, championing public spaces that currently have poor access or are unwelcoming or unattractive.

This project will provide some much needed green space in Dalston. This publicly accessible roof park shall be used to engage and inspire the local community in ecology and biodiversity, healthy food growing and eating and other aspects of . The creation of the roof park will be an exemplar example of sustainable public green space that illustrates the benefits of green spaces at roof level – storm water retention, local air cooling and filtering of air pollution, local humidification, increased biodiversity, extended life of the roof etc. It will give the residents of Dalston a public space for leisure and interaction, education and exploration, as well as being an example of how we can use roof spaces to help our cities adapt to climate change.