Quick Quote
Containers Direct logoQuality you can see, experience you can trust.
Quality you can see, experience you can trust.

Green Living Roofs - Eco-friendly Containers

What is a green roof?

In today's world the focus is on green living, and that can include your shipping container! Help offset your carbon footprint by transforming your container roof into an eco-friendly system by adding a green roof. Also known as a living roof, this is basically a container roof that is designed especially for growing plants and flowers. Green roofs provide many benefits when installed correctly - including water storage, decreasing flood risk, aesthetic impact and habitat creation. These are popular in conversions for schools, where they have the added benefit of teaching children about nature and habitat, and also containers installed in conservation areas, where a living roof helps blend the container in with the natural surroundings. And if you plant bee friendly plants and flowers you can do your bit towards helping with the much needed increase to our bee population. We spent many hours researching and developing a unique shipping container living roof structure which ensures you enjoy the benefits of an eco-friendly container and promote biodiversity at the same time. Our living roofs are designed for "extensive" green roofs. Extensive green roofs are designed to be low maintenance, lightweight systems with no general access. Typically, they have thin layers of substrate (the growing medium) to keep depth and weight to a minimum. Usually our customers chose a sedum or wildflower blanket as the growing medium, but a standard soil substrate or planting is a viable alternative.

Making the green living roof

We can install a green roof on any container. The green roof design needs to accommodate adequate water retention, suitable drainage, structural loading and the depth of green roof growing substrate. The roof structure we create is strong enough to allow occasional walking upon, for initial planting and periodic maintenance but it's not designed for frequent and heavy use. It's important not to place a living roof directly on top of a shipping container roof as the roof is not designed to carry weight. The roof will deflect and quickly degrade, therefore we construct a floating/suspended roof. Living roofs are popular addition to wood cladding, as together they create a beautiful aesthetic.


Optional extra - just add rain!

To make things simple we've partnered with an award winning green roof company, Sky Garden, to offer a full living roof system. Choose from the UK grown sedum or wildflower blanket* as an add-on to your container. We'll do the rest so all you need to do is wait for the growing medium to be delivered directly to your door, ready to lay! Everything you need for a living roof system is covered, including protection fleece, drainage layer, substrate and seed blanket.



*Please note: Subject to seasonal availability; we have designed the living roof structure to allow for the requirements of handling and delivering by lorry mounted crane, therefore the final stages of fitting the membrane and growing medium must be carried out by the end user once the container is in place on site.

Did you know?

20m2 of green roof space can, on average, absorb 100kg of carbon per year. That's equivalent to:

12,164

Number of smartphones charged.

251

Miles driven in a car.

1 Year

Running a standard refrigerator.

4.1

Gas cylinders used for home barbeques.



111

Pounds of coal burned.

Request a Quick Quote!

Contact our sales team for your no obligation quote, including delivery!

Just some of the clients we've worked with...

Mercedes Benz
ITV
Ministry of Defense
Environment Agency
National Trust
superdry
Balfour Beatty
British Gas
Network Rail
Harley Davidson
Hilti
Audi
<
>

Committed to Quality

We are ISOQAR Approved; certified to the ISO standard relating to Quality Management Systems, demonstrating our Company's commitment to quality. We are also members of MakeUK who champion and celebrate British manufacturing and manufacturers, and member of the Container Self Storage and Traders Association; an international organisation representing the interests of Container Self-Storage Operators, Traders and Innovators.
ISOQAR Approved
ISO Cert No. 13586-QNS-001
ISO 9001:2015
Member of MakeUK
Member of the Container Self Storage and Traders Association
Member of JOSCAR

Testimonials

As a long established and reputable shipping container company, we want to instil confidence in our customers that we can deliver on our promises, and provide high quality products and service.

But don't just take our word for it, see for yourself what our past and present clients have to say about Containers Direct.
quote icon
"I would just like to say great service and the driver who delivered it was just brilliant. Nothing was to much trouble, thanks again."Nigel Burnham
20th March 2025
order - a Used 10ft Container
quote icon
"The purchase was simple; the follow up emails confirming the purchase and delivery date were excellent and the delivery driver was extremely helpful. Overall, I would definitely recommend Containers Direct, thank you!"Bimeda
13th March 2025
order - a Used 8ft Container
quote icon
"Excellent communication and support from Cory and Hannah. The drivers were brilliant with delivery and offload too. Thank you very much."Moor Wood Farm
26th February 2025
order - three Used 20ft Containers
quote icon
"You clearly run an extremely professional business. Every element went as planned and you were on hand to answer any questions or queries. Thank you."Mab Lane Primary School
14th February 2025
order - a 'Once-Used' 20ft Container
quote icon
"The overall experience of ordering and specifying the container was very good. The sales and transport staff kept me informed at all times."Cura-Terrae
11th February 2025
order - a 20ft DryBox Container
quote icon
"Cory was very helpful, as was Hannah with the delivery details. The delivery driver also took time to ensure the container was in the correct position - very helpful!"Ben Halliday, 24-7 Electrical services
4th February 2025
order - a New 'Once-Used' 16ft Container
<
>
We have placed cookies on your browsing device to enable this website to function correctly.
Further usage of this website indicates you are happy for us to do this..
Find out about the cookies we have set and how we use them.
A green roof, also known as a living roof, is a container roof that is specifically designed for growing plants and flowers.