GROOF project
Towards a concrete solution to reduce our CO² emissions
Feeding tomorrow's population is one of today's major challenges. And urban agriculture is part of the solution! GROOF is a project supported by several European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg) with the support of the INTERREG Vb (NWE) programme, which proposes to optimise a surface area that is still little used in cities: our roofs.
GROOF – « Greenhouse to Reduce CO on RooFs »
GROOF is an innovative cross-sectoral approach to reduce CO2 emissions from the construction and agriculture sectors, combining energy sharing and local food production. Concretely, this project will facilitate the emergence of the rooftop greenhouse concept on the market.
A best practice guide
Indeed, its ambition is to propose to actors in the agriculture and construction sector a set of best practices favouring the development of viable and functional models, and to make the design of rooftop greenhouses accessible to all.
This is why, at the end of the project (in 2021), one of the objectives is to create a guide containing the best practices to adopt when implementing this type of project in Europe. This guide promises to be complete since it is planned to include both an administrative aspect (town planning rules, etc.) and a technical aspect (energy, construction, production & economic).
ALSO READ - GROOF reports and publications :
Tailor-made support on the basis of a call for projects
The GROOF team also aims to stimulate the construction, development and concrete implementation of rooftop greenhouses through the launch of a call for projects, which was closed in September 2019.
1st call for projects - 2019
At the end of September 2019, the GROOF jury, made up of experts in the fields of construction, energy, agriculture and business models, deliberated and identified the 10 projects that will benefit from personalised coaching over a period of one year, from September 2019 to September 2020: the group decided to select 10 projects located in France, Belgium and Luxembourg that aim to reduce the impact of CO2 emissions through the construction of a rooftop greenhouse. These projects bring together different greenhouse techniques: hydroponic greenhouses, aquaponics, earthen vegetable gardens, etc. As well as different types of projects: educational, social, private, etc.
The 10 selected projects :
- " Culina Hortus " led by Cueillette Urbaine , Paris (France).
- " Pousses & vous " in Brussels (Belgium).
- "Adhoc Habitat Participatif", led by the Adhoc Cooperative in Kirchberg (Luxembourg).
- "Les Jardins Perchés", a site created by Tours Habitat à Tours (France).
- Project led by ISA Lille, Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Agriculture et de Bio-ingénierie de Lille (France).
- "SYMBIOSE ", project led by Ecotropy in Nantes (France).
- "Toits vivants", led by Axone Promotion in Arcueil (France).
- " Les Petits Poucets"
- "Green(s)pote", led by Les amis de l'Entrepote in Brussels (Belgium)
- And finally, a project led by Novacitis in Liege (Belgium).
Second call for 2021-2023
The GROOF team has also launched a second call for projects in order to offer a year of coaching to new innovative projects, while extending it to new countries: the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany. The specificity of this second call is that it is also open to rooftop AND NON-ROOFTOP greenhouses, as long as they are working in synergies with a building.
For more information, please visit the GROOF website.
GROOF – Supported by ULiège
The University of Liège is involved in this project through the Smart City Institute and the Centre de Recherches en Agriculture Urbaine (CRAU, Gembloux). Thus, it provides support at the level of the socio-economic aspects of the project, as well as at the agronomic level.
The University of Liège is also in charge of the development of one of the pilot greenhouses on the new TERRA building in Gembloux.
Nicolas Ancion, a researcher at the Smart City Institute is also project manager for GROOF. He is interested in the socio-economic aspects of the project by working on business models (coaching of pilot projects, project leaders, etc.). He will also participate in the writing of the guide by developing innovative business models following the experiences collected.
