Moving From Grey To Green

The cry of “can we have more green instead of grey” is the now the new motto of the City of Salzburg in Austria and is growing louder across the globe. Not only do many of this historical city’s residents want more green spaces, but so do the local water authority and spatial planning and building authorities.

Salzburg, along with many other cities in the country such as Vienna, Linz and Graz, has seen the wide-ranging benefits offered by the installation of green roofing systems. Green roofs offer the smart solution, particularly when installed within densely populated urban areas.

Promoting urban greenery, green roofs and green walls – Graz

The promotional campaign is not only an advocacy campaign but also one that provides grants and subsidies to support various Green Infrastructure interventions.

In the first place, it is now possible to apply for a grant or subsidy to increase greenery in the urban core of the city. In particular, the municipality provides a grant for initial advice or consultation on whether green roofs and walls can be installed on existing buildings.

The funding is aimed at:

• Increasing local food supply as well as horticultural awareness in communities
• To encourage the design of ecological and climate-friendly buildings by vegetating the exterior surfaces of roofs and walls

How Can We Help?

Wallbarn has developed a new, improved design for the M-Tray® modular green roof system.

The M-Tray® is a fully established, a mature green roof can be installed quickly and easily on difficult-to-access roofs by hand without the mess and disruption associated with traditional extensive green roof systems.

An instant modular Green Roof

• Our M-Tray® green roof system consists of specially-designed modular trays containing superior, engineered substrate and fully established flowering sedum
• Easy-to-carry trays which click together to form a seamless green roof
• Fully established sedum plants nurtured from seed at our own UK nurseries

What makes the M-Tray® green roof unique?

• Mature, established vegetation
• Click-together trays create a seamless connection
• Easy to transport and install
• Specially-mixed substrate for the longevity of plant life
• 100mm deep cavities for healthy roots
• Optimum drainage means stronger plants
• No sharp edges or mess meaning minimum disruption to plants, deck structure and inhabitants!

Benefits of Green Roofing Installation

In addition to the obvious economic advantages an attractive, natural-looking, differentiated property with lots of green space will have in the local environment, which can bring higher rental yields and real estate values, the running costs of those buildings can be reduced to such a degree that green roofs pay for themselves and bring about a “green dividend” to the owners.

The Ryerson &University of Toronto study has been mentioned on our site previously, but it recorded some financial benefits to heating and cooling costs to structures. From its pilot studies, is replicated and modelled the data to reflect what might happen across a whole city if green roofs were installed in sufficient quantities:

City of Toronto study 

• (2.8 million people) Citywide savings from reduced energy for cooling is $21 million, equivalent to 4.15KWh/m2 per year
• Cost avoided due to reduced demand at peak times is $68 million

Ryerson University –
Dr  Doug Banting, Professor Hitesh Doshi,
Dr James Li, Dr Paul Missios

In 2003 a cider factory in Frankfurt, which uses a large amount of energy to cool its tanks and processes, installed a “wet roof” onto the top of the factory buildings. The wet roof incorporated living green spaces and small pools of bogs and ponds.

It found that the green roof on the cider factory paid for itself within 3 years in heating and cooling costs.

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