Green roof mania?

Posted by Magda
I've been interested in green roofs since 2004. I was reporting on a new community centre in the Vancouver neighbourhood where I worked, and was surprised to find it was being built with a green roof. The architect said that was the norm these days -- with a condo tower next door, it would have been unacceptable to leave hundreds of people looking down on a black tar roof.

At the time, there were more than 1,000 green roofs in Vancouver. And if calling it the norm was an exaggeration, it wasn't too much of one. But green roofs are yet to catch on here. Part of the reason is climate -- it's so easier to put on a green roof when the temperature rarely dips below zero, and it's not hard to imagine there'd be more support for it in a place where you can enjoy the outdoors year round.

In writing a story about green features on the new city hall building, including a green roof (watch for the story in tomorrow's Merc), I endeavoured to find out how many other green roofs there are in town.

• The new Futures Inn on Stone and Gordon has a 5,000 square foot green roof.
• Hillside festival's permanent stage, built in 2005, has a green roof.
• There's a small one over the entranceway of the landscape architecture building on campus.
• Architect Lloyd Grinham has one on his downtown home.
• Mayor Karen Farbridge also has one.

Lise Burcher, a councillor and landscape architect, figures people just need more exposure to them before they appreciate how easy and beneficial they are. "I think it will take off like a house on fire," she says.