Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor Winter 2020 - 21
TRENDS
INCENTIVIZING
GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE -
THE FLOOR AREA
RATIO BONUS
BY RICHARD C. HAYDEN, GARDEN ROOF AND BLUE ROOF DEPARTMENT MANAGER,
AMERICAN HYDROTECH, INC.
There are a lot of incentives for green roofs in the world today which improve
the business case for implementation. Many of those incentives rely on making
one-time payments based on the size of the green roof. While these incentives
are good, I prefer an incentive that is much longer lasting and creates broader
benefits for more people. This is the floor-area-ratio bonus.
T
he floor-area-ratio (FAR) is a city
planning term used to determine
density of a particular project. It is a
ratio of the building floor area to the
site area. Simply put, a 10,000 square foot
building placed on a site that is 10,000
square feet in size has a FAR of 1.0. If
you put that same 10,000 in two floors on
a 5,000 square foot site, the FAR is 2.0.
Putting three floors of 5,000 SF totalling
15,000 SF, on that same 5,000 square foot
site creates a FAR of 3.0 and so on.
FAR is used by planners to encourage
or limit densities in certain areas depending on the ultimate goals of the planning
LIVINGARCHITECTUREMONITOR.COM
authorities and the city. Dense urban
areas typically have high FAR values
and often the land values warrant denser
construction to offset the increased cost
of those parcels. Higher FAR means that
developers can typically earn more on a
given development project.
Planning agencies have often used FAR
bonuses to encourage developers to finance
special elements that the community needs
to enhance its environment, such as pools
or community centers. Green roofs have
been included in FAR bonuses.
The City of Savannah, Georgia has a
portion of its code for its historic district
that encourages green roofs that meet or
exceed certain stormwater management
criteria. In exchange, the city will allow
for the addition of a floor within the
building. To achieve the additional floor
in the building, the following conditions
must be met:
* Green roof must have capacity to
absorb at least 1.2 inches of rain
* Green roof must have a certain
minimum size to achieve the required
retention capacity
* Green roof must be maintained by the
building owner.
LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR / WINTER 2020 / 21
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Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor Winter 2020
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor Winter 2020
Table of Contents
Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor Winter 2020 - IP
Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor Winter 2020 - Cover1
Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor Winter 2020 - Cover2
Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor Winter 2020 - Table of Contents
Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor Winter 2020 - AD1
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