How new 'living roof' bus shelters are helping Sunderland go green

The latest scheme to make Sunderland more eco-friendly is just the ticket.

New bus shelters with living roofs are adding colour to the city, as well as making Wearside a cleaner and greener place to live.

The shelters, also known as ‘Bee Bus Stops’ are planted with wild flowers to improve the look of Sunderland’s streets and support bees and other pollinators.

Each has a mix of native wildflower species selected to aid and support bees and other pollinators, whose numbers are sadly in decline.

They have been specially designed by bus shelter firm Clear Channel and expert ecologists to support native biodiversity, help create healthier local communities, and bring greenery back into urban areas.

The living roof bus shelters were first introduced outside the University of Sunderland and on Chester Road, but Sunderland City Council and Clear Channel are aiming to install 90 living roof bus shelters across the city.

The living roofs also help provide natural cooling to counteract the effects of ‘urban heat islands’, in which urban areas experience higher temperatures than rural ones; absorb rainwater to help alleviate flooding, and filter fine dust particles from the air.

The new shelters have been finished to be in keeping with the city’s existing shelters and built using a range of recycled materials.

Coun Claire Rowntree is Sunderland City Council’s Cabinet member for Clean, Green City: "These new Living Roof bus shelters are just one of the ways that we are supporting important pollinators like bees and moths, which face threat due to loss of habitat but are so important for our environment," she said.

"This goes hand-in-hand with planting wildflowers in our parks and cemeteries to support these habitats.

"Now we’re in summer, the bee bus stops are in full bloom and they are also looking beautiful and brightening up the city’s streets."

As well as the replacement of the shelters, Clear Channel have also introduced free-standing advertising units to the city centre, with new, high-tech ‘Waferlite’ digital units, which are thinner and 50% more energy efficient than the existing digital screens.