Green roofs are described as an aesthetically pleasing way to lower the carbon footprint of a building at the same time as raising environmental standards, providing more efficient insulation, producing lower energy bills, improving air quality and alleviating problems of storm water management.
Hudson Roofing Solutions can supply and install green roofs for residential homes and commercial buildings. We can also advise on the installation of retrofit green roofs for existing buildings. Contact Us today to discuss your green roof project.
Research in Tyndale Centre for climate change suggests we need a 10% increase in green space in our cities to combat climate change. This is particularly relevant to the reduction in the Urban Heat Island [UHIE]. Green roofs are recognized to have a positive effect on reducing the UHIE.
Green roofs can provide important refuges for wildlife in urban areas. Research in Switzerland and the UK has demonstrated that green roofs can provide important refuges for rare invertebrate populations.
Green roofs can significantly reduce the surface run off volumes and rates of rainfall leaving roofs. As a source control mechanism in the Sustainable Urban Drainage System green roofs can help reduce flash floods as a consequence of intense rainfall events. This will become increasingly important as a consequence of climate change.
Green roofs also improve the quality of water and although the amount of water is reduced it is possible to rainfall harvest from roofs that have been greened.
Green roofs cannot be given a U-value at present. However they have been shown to significantly reduce the need for air conditioning in summer and can provide a degree of insulation in winter.
The combination of soil, plants and trapped layers of air within green roof systems can act as a sound insulation barrier. Sound waves are absorbed, reflected or deflected. The growing medium tends to block lower sound frequencies whilst the plants block higher frequencies.
The original green roofs in Germany stem from covering wet bitumen with 6cm of sand, which became vegetated. This covering was to protect the wet bitumen from fire. Green roofs have now been shown to double if not triple the life of waterproofing membranes beneath the green roof.
Airborne particles and pollutants are filtered from the atmosphere by the substrates and vegetation on a green roof.
In dense urban environments there is often a lack of green space for residents. Roof Gardens and roof top parks provide important green spaces to improve the quality of life for urban residents.
Urban Rooftop Food Growing – roofs, where strong enough provide a space for urban food growing. Although many large flat roofs may not have the loading capabilities to hold food growing some roofs will and the many balconies in are urban areas are ideal.
In common with ground level planting, green roofs require some maintenance to ensure that the original species selected establish and thrive. This is usually only necessary in the first year of laying. We recommend that in this period of the first 12 months a maintenance visit consisting of two visits followed by a minimum of one further visit per year after the first year will give optimum satisfaction.
Typical procedures carried out during maintenance are as follows:
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