National Rooftop Plan – Online Kick-Off and Working Sessions

Online kick-off and New Board Members

Together with more than 50 partners, we attended the online launch event for the National Rooftop Plan on May 14^th. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, no physical meeting was possible, but almost all the partners were able to attend the online kick-off. The action plan for the National Rooftop Plan 2020-2024 (Nationaal Daken Plan – NDP in Dutch) was presented by the new board of the NDP. They outlined the four focus points of the NDP partners for greening the rooftops of the Netherlands while at the same time working towards other sustainability goals, such as cooling, insulation, water collection (during peak rainfall), energy production, increase in biodiversity, and extra green user space in an increasingly crowded city. Because your roof can be so much more than ‘just a roof over your head’!

Focus points of the NDP

In the next few years, the 56 partners of the National Rooftop Plan will work together to promote multifunctional roofs. They will work in various working groups on the NDP’s four focus points:

• Focus point 1. Broadening the mindset:
  Goal: To raise awareness of the multifunctional possibilities of flat roofs.
• Focus point 2. Embedding in policy: regional and local (and national)
  Goal: Municipalities, water boards and provinces embed multifunctional roofs in their policy; to transform bottlenecks into opportunities in national policy as effectively as possible.
• Focus point 3: Stimulating Financing:
  Goal: Rooftop owners, decision-makers and other stakeholders use stimulating financing models to finance multifunctional roofs.
• Focus point 4: Skilled professionals
  Goal: An increasing number of trained professionals who can and want to contribute to realizing multifunctional roofs.

Getting started with the focus points and working groups

On May 28^th, the NDP partners met online again, this time in smaller groups to discuss the different focus points. Together, they came up with concrete objectives and discussed the desired products for each focus point. In addition, the partners indicated how they would contribute to these products and to the action that is needed. The inspiration and synergy during these online working sessions was very promising for the future of the rooftop landscape in the Netherlands!

NextGreen carries out the process management of the National Rooftop Plan together with the Mediation consultancy Stroom and Onderstroom (Carleen Mesters). We are looking forward to supporting the NDP partners as they continue to work on the focus points. With a clear focus on the ultimate goal: more multifunctional roofs in the Netherlands with a positive impact on the climate, sustainable energy, biodiversity and health!

For more information about this project and an overview of the partners and the possibility of joining this project: see project page National Rooftop Plan.