I'm sure you've noticed that you can barely pick up a paper or magazine without reading about a new green building initiative. Climate change and the environment seem to have shot up to #1 on the national agenda and it's about time. All of a sudden, we're seeing green building go mainstream and that includes municipalities taking a leadership role.
Collingwood council recently voted to build the new library to become a LEED® certified building meeting specific goals for environment responsibility and energy efficient design. One of the features being proposed by architect, Henry Wong is to incorporate a green roof on the top of the three storey building. Although I have a general idea of what that is, I did a bit of searching on the net today to learn more. According to the folks at greenroofs.com, a green roof is defined as follows: "Basically, greenroofs are vegetated roof covers, with growing media and plants taking the place of bare membrane, gravel ballast, shingles or tiles. The number of layers and the layer placement vary from system to system and greenroof type, but at the very least all greenroofs include a single to multi-ply waterproofing layer, drainage, growing media and the plants, covering the entire roof deck surface."
When built, I imagine this will have numerous benefits including being a draw for people and perhaps a catalyst for a new trend in the area. Exciting, isn't it?
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