Codema hosts MultiRoofs focus group with Dublin Local Authorities
The MultiRoofs project explores opportunities to use roofspace to meet urban challenges.
Codema was pleased to welcome project partners from Rotterdam to The Digital Hub this Tuesday, 19th May, to present the MultiRoofs project to local stakeholders including representatives from the four Dublin Local Authorities and Smart Dublin.
MultiRoofs is an Interreg NWE project exploring how roofspace can be used in multifunctional ways to address urban challenges. Roofs can be used in many beneficial ways, including:
- For renewable energy production
- To increase biodiversity
- To improve air quality
- To mitigate against the impact of flooding
- To provide living spaces for communities
The MultiRoofs consortium meeting is being hosted in Dublin this week by Codema, in partnership with Dublin City University, another partner on the project.
Dublin focus group
The three-day programme of activities kicked off at The Digital Hub on Tuesday with a focus group attended by representatives from the climate, planning and energy teams at the four Dublin Local Authorities and Smart Dublin. This was an opportunity for the project lead from the Municipality of Rotterdam to share the origin of MultiRoofs, demonstrate the work being carried out over the four-year project and learn more about the Dublin context and how the project can work with the Dublin Local Authorities.
The origin of MultiRoofs – City of Rotterdam
Paul van Roosmalen from the City of Rotterdam shared the story of the MultiRoofs project, how it began in Rotterdam and the potential that roofspace brings for meeting urban challenges in cities where space is at a premium. Rotterdam has been exploring this potential for more than 10 years and through the MultiRoofs project, the lead partners hope to bring the concept of multifunctional roofs to other cities.
Rooftop Revolution
The second presentation from Rooftop Revolution, an Amsterdam-based organisation working to expand green and multifunctional rooftops in cities across Europe, demonstrated three projects that show how a multifunctional roof works in practice. The examples included working with a homeowners’ association to install a modular, green biodiverse roof on a building experiencing heat stress, working with the University of Applied Sciences in Rotterdam to introduce a roof garden and solar panels, alongside examples of how cities can introduce more housing on top of existing buildings.
MVRDV Architects
Attendees also got the opportunity to see what’s possible through a presentation from MVRDV Architects, another partner on the project. This was a chance to see examples of rooftops introduced in other cities and how roofspace can be used not only for energy production or biodiversity, but also as public spaces where people can gather and enjoy the city.
MVRDV also gave a demonstration of the tool and 3D model being developed as part of the MultiRoofs project to show what is possible and how it can be used to aid decision-making in how best to use a city’s roof space.
Input from local authorities
The focus group was also a great opportunity to hear from different departments within the local authorities in Dublin and learn more about how a tool like this can be applied in the Dublin context.
The discussion centred around the availability of data in Dublin to inform a 3D model and the types of datasets that are accessible, as well as the scale that a 3D model could be applied in the county. Attendees also discussed the role of policy as an enabler for multifunctional roof projects and how key policy documents, like the County Development Plans and Climate Action Plans, could facilitate the expansion of multifunctional roofs across Dublin.
Codema is looking forward to expanding on these discussions with project partners at the consortium meeting this week and continuing engagement with the local authorities and other local stakeholders to bring more multifunctional rooftops to Dublin.