Living Architecture Monitor - Green Roofs for Healthy Cities

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GRHCUPDATE SYMPOSIUMIGNITESGREENROOF ANDWALLMOMENTUMINATLANTA FROMARCHITECTSTOPUBLICPOLICYMAKERS—THEFINESTPROFESSIONALSGATHERED TOBRAINSTORMANACTIONPLANFORMOREGREENROOFSANDWALLSINGEORGIA’S CAPITALCITY By Lillian Mason & GRHC staff GRHC Symposiums' continue in cities across North America, developing the sector and kick-starting projects that engage professionals throughout the green roof and wall industry. One of the organization’s latest symposium stops was Atlanta — sparking excitement, energy and cooperation among Georgia-based professionals and policymakers interested in green roofs. The event, held in September 2007, was attended by a wide array of architects, students, planners, non-profits, engineers and landscape architects. Kelly Caffarelli of the Home Depot Foundation, a lead sponsor of the event, welcomed participants with her opening remarks, followed by Clair Muller, an Atlanta City council member for District 8. Participants then heard from several Georgia designers, advocates and researchers who presented case studies of several existing green roofs projects in the Atlanta-area. Dan Gerding, AIA, of Gerding Collaborative shared his involvement with several regional projects including: Georgia’s Sweetwater Creek State Park Visitor Center, a LEED®platinum certified building opened in July 2006 (see images above and right); and the recently completed NeoTerra Townhomes in Atlanta featuring a half-an-acre extensive residential green roof with underground rainwater cisterns for site irrigation and stormwater management. Other presenters included Meg Needle from architect firm Lord, Aeck, Sargent sharing details of one of their exciting projects, the Gwinett Environmental and Heritage Center in Gwinnett County, GA, a site with an extensive green roof, rain chains and native plants. As with every GRHC-sponsored Symposium, part of the agenda was devoted to identifying barriers to green roof implementation — and Atlanta was no exception. Here, Art Gibert, a planner from the GA Department of Community Affairs and other participants expressed their concerns about what they felt were the major issues including costs associated with green roofs, lack of incentives, potential leaks and liability issues, as well as maintenance and a general apathy towards energy conservation. But problem identification is only the beginning; the next step is a brainstorming “The symposium and training provided inspiration and hope for Atlanta — not to mention vital information — for the future of society and our world.” Art Gibert, planner for the State of Georgia & Atlanta Symposium participant LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR WINTER
THEGROWINGMEDIA&PLANTISSUE FROMTHE ACCREDITATION SUB-COMMITTEE session leading to the development of an Action Plan, which in the case of Atlanta’s Symposium included the establishment of an Atlanta Green Roof Steering Committee and “smart growth” strategies. Other action items included the exploration of potential partnerships and a proposal for providing incentives for green roofs in Chamblee, a smaller city outside Atlanta, also emerged from the event and will be discussed by the new Atlanta Green Roof Steering Committee after newly elected officials take office in early 2008. Also, the city of Atlanta is considering an ordinance to require LEED® certification for all public projects and any private development over 50,000 square feet. This is a first in Georgia, therefore an important prospect, being that green roofs can be used to achieve many LEED® points. The long-term impact of the symposium is likely to include a more directed effort toward getting green roofs and green walls recognized as solutions that can mitigate and reduce many of the Atlanta’s pressing energy and water conservation challenges. “Green roofs offer a magnificent opportunity to improve humankind’s relationship to the environment and the problems of shelter and lifesupport,” noted Gibert after the event. “The symposium and trainings offered by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities provided inspiration and hope for Atlanta — not to mention vital information — for the future of society and our world.” FIRSTGREENROOFPROFESSIONALACCREDITATION EXAMPLANNEDFORCONFERENCEIN ATLANTAGEORGIA Behind the scenes at GRHC, the organization continues to develop an industry-wide Accreditation Program. To this end, we are working with a dedicated team of subjectmatter experts to develop the final course in our program — Plants and Growing Medium 401. Simultaneously, we have been working on the development of the Accreditation Model that would be most appropriate to establish the Accredited Green Roof Professional designation. To accomplish this goal, we formed an Accreditation Sub-Committee, chaired by Professor Virginia Russell of the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. The main focus for this sub-committee was the review of a variety of other accreditation/certification models currently used by organizations such as the U.S. Green Building Council, RCI, and ANLA etc. To date, the sub-committee has concluded that the most appropriate model for GRHC would be one similar to the LEED® accreditation model. This would mean an accreditation exam would be available to a broad range of potential candidates without any prerequisites. The test itself will be based on the multi-disciplinary material in our Occupational Standards, completed over a year ago. This knowledge is covered in GRHC courses, which while highly recommended, will not be a requirement prior to taking the test. Although we have made significant progress, there is still much work to be done. First we must complete the development of the 401 Course for delivery at GRHC’s Sixth Annual International Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Cities Conference in Baltimore this spring (April 30–May 2, 2008). Second, we need to develop the written test and make critical decisions regarding the maintenance of the Accreditation designation through such mechanisms as continuing education credits. To assist us with the test development, we will be working with Prometric, a company with 20 years of experience as a provider of valid and legally defensible accreditation and certification examinations for professional trade associations worldwide. We will also forge long-term relationships with a strong group of subject matter experts, some of who were also involved in developing the Occupational Standards for the Accreditation program earlier this year. This next step promises to be a lengthy, challenging and yet fulfilling process — the one we must take to help us reach the critical milestone to deliver the first GRHC Accreditation test at our annual conference in spring of 2009. SUB-COMMITTEEMEMBERS Kelly Luckett, St. Louis Metalworks Roger Schickedantz, William McDonough & Partners Jeffrey Bruce, Jeffrey L. Bruce & Company Stephen Teal, Flynn Canada Bruce McTavish, McTavish Resource & Management Consultants Update by Hazel Farley Hazel Farley is director, training and accreditation, for Green Roofs for Healthy Cities. LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR WINTER
Page 1 and 2: GREEN ROOFS FOR HEALTHY CITIES WINT
Page 3 and 4: COLD What can we learn from the cli
Page 5 and 6: THEGROWINGMEDIA&PLANTISSUE Welcome
Page 7 and 8: THEGROWINGMEDIA&PLANTISSUE ALIVINGL
Page 9 and 10: GREENROOFSGO EXTREME—ANDPRIMETIME
Page 11 and 12: Photos courtesy Elisabeth Whitelaw
Page 13 and 14: THEGROWINGMEDIA&PLANTISSUE Q: Looki
Page 15 and 16: THEGROWINGMEDIA&PLANTISSUE PROJECTS
Page 17 and 18: THEGROWINGMEDIA&PLANTISSUE transfor
Page 19 and 20: THEGROWINGMEDIA&PLANTISSUE “DON
Page 21 and 22: THEGROWINGMEDIA&PLANTISSUE “Organ
Page 23 and 24: THEGROWINGMEDIA&PLANTISSUE of dead
Page 25 and 26: FIRSTGROWINGSEASONPLOTGROWTHRATINGS
Page 27 and 28: THEGROWINGMEDIA&PLANTISSUE Ron Wik
Page 29 and 30: THRIVINGCONDITIONS Tips for sustain
Page 31 and 32: THEGROWINGMEDIA&PLANTISSUE DROUGHT
Page 33 and 34: THEGROWINGMEDIA&PLANTISSUE LEFTFIGU
Page 35 and 36: “The design process is organized
Page 37 and 38: seeing is that green walls are beco
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Page 41 and 42: THEGROWINGMEDIA&PLANTISSUE profile
Page 43: SCIENTIFIC INTEREST GREENROOFSDEBUT

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