Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2008 - (Page 11)

To better accommodate our available funds, the design was reduced by 5,000-square-feet (from the previously planned 15,000-square-foot) extensive green roof without the flowing stream and one less 10,000 gallon cistern with a gravity feed to a dripirrigation system. Large quantities of stormwater from upper roofs were captured in the cistern and used to irrigate the green roof 53-feet below. The budget was also supplemented by soliciting support from private partners including Xcel Energy, nrg Energy, the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization and the Toro Foundation. The main objectives of our green roof project included the following: • Demonstrate environmental responsibility to residents and private businesses. • Control stormwater runoff, decrease pollution in runoff, decrease negative effects on aquatic habitats, decrease erosion and flooding control, and increase water quality. • Control temperature of roof decks in the summer to reduce air conditioning costs, lessen urban heat island. Improve aesthetics for building occupants and visitors. • Provide tours to educate property owners, policy makers, and visitors on the benefits of a green roof. All in all, the green roof project, installed in May 2008, was a success with many lessons learned. Based on our experience, our advice to other municipalities undertaking such a project includes the following: 1. Integrate green roof concepts into the plans as early as possible. Adding the green roof elements into our waterproofing project complicated the design and increased the budget considerably. 2. Research best practices at other green roof sites. 3. Design the green roof to match or take advantage of the site conditions. 4. Accept that green roofs are still a relatively new concept and may have to be implemented incrementally as policymakers’ support and funds become available. 5. Seek out partners in the private sector. Our private sector partners provided approximately 30 per cent of the funding for our green roof budget. In addition, the private partners also provided expertise in specific areas. Jose Cervantes is Director, Municipal Building Commission based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. D http://www.soprema.ca http://www.soprema.ca

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2008

Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2008 Contents From the Founder: A Robust Economy Letters Strata - People, Products & Projects: Austin's Hotspot for Habitat & Baltimore Hilton Goes Green A Green Roof for a County Courthouse Research Grant for Design Tool On the Roof With... A New Vue on Downtown Open Space Sound Transmission Loss of Extensive Green Roofs On Target Optimizing for Sustainability First GRHC Green Roof Symposium in Florida Welcome New Corporate Members Professional Calendar Experts Reflect on the Value of the GRP

Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.