‘A Royal Park in the sky’: Reece pledges seed funding for rooftop garden plan

Public rooftop gardens spanning an area the size of a large city park would grow across the CBD’s high-rise buildings under an ambitious plan by lord mayoral hopeful Nick Reece.

As part of his re-election pitch, Reece has pledged $3 million in grants to help building owners create new public rooftop gardens and green walls.

The roof garden at Parliament House.Credit: Jason South

Reece said the city’s rooftops were an underused resource and the funding could help transform them into a new “Royal Park in the sky”.

“Using buildings to create more green space is not just about aesthetics – it helps reduce energy costs, cleans the air, and creates a better Melbourne for all of our residents and visitors,” he said.

But Professor Marco Amati, an expert in urban greening from RMIT University, said it was costly and complex to retrofit a green roof onto a building and questioned how far Reece’s $3 million election pledge would go.

“You need to ensure it doesn’t leak and that the soil is thick enough for things to grow,” he said.

Garden designer Paul Bangay in the grounds of Stonefields, central Victoria.Credit: Brendan McCarthy

As part of Reece’s plan, renowned landscape designer Paul Bangay has agreed to provide advice on park and green space design in a new role as Garden City Ambassador.

Mapping from the City of Melbourne reveals that more than one-third of the city’s rooftops – 3.28 million square metres – could be retrofitted into green roofs as they have low or no constraints.

Parks and gardens have become a central theme of the council election, with Reece promising an extra 10 new parks across the City of Melbourne, on top of 18 that have already been committed to by the council as part of his “Garden City” vision.

Rival mayoral candidate Arron Wood has previously vowed to axe the ambitious Greenline walking track through Melbourne’s CBD and redirect $19 million of its allocated funding towards the completion and creation of 21 new parks, gardens and greening projects.

Reece said the initiative would also reduce heat retention in urban areas.

Amati said rooftop gardens and green walls could absorb solar radiation and air pollution and insulate buildings. Rooftop gardens can also be used for food production.

But he said they did not have a significant impact on cooling the CBD unless they were planted near street level.

He said that in Tokyo, developers had been allowed to build an extra few levels on new apartments if they promised to create rooftop gardens and green walls.

Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece.Credit: Simon Schluter

More than 80 per cent of City of Melbourne residents live in apartments.

Reece has also vowed to create a new Apartment Living Unit which would help owners corporations and residents by reviewing strata constitutions to ensure they reflect current laws, undertaking financial health checks on strata buildings and advising on dispute resolution.

This new body will award $1 million in grants every year to help high-rise apartment dwellers install solar panels. It will also provide grants for communal electric vehicle charging stations.

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