Communal Rooftop Garden Design
Winner of the 2025 Roofing Awards Green Roof category
Film credit: Factotum.Film
The brief
A rooftop courtyard of 2000 m² surrounded by two-storey flats in Weston-Super-Mare. Structural damage to the roof necessitated a rebuild of the roof and a longstanding community garden.
Requirements:
A redesign of the residents’ communal garden fit for ageing tenants
A strong boundary between the residents’ private garden and an adjoining corporate-owned rooftop
All elements must be free-standing
Image: Elevation looking towards the boundary
Community listening
Lack of a communal tap created resistance to watering.
Shade and privacy were highlighted as needs for the new space.
The majority of residents are longstanding and retired. A number of plants and ornaments exist in the garden in memory of loved ones.
The existing structures and planting were causing issues with the roof, so a new lighter approach was needed.
To begin, we led a two part community consultation to understand what was working about the existing space and what could be improved. We discovered:
Raised beds in the former garden were difficult to maintain due to their size. Residents were not able to reach all areas of the beds, and there were more plants than the residents had time to care for. A few keen gardeners were heroically holding the fort, but shared that they would like to do less.
Design response
Green roof rooftop planting
