Presentation by Randy Sharp

On February 21st, Randy Sharp, ASLA, will present a brief history of green roofs in Western Canada and talk about some of his award-winning projects including the Broadway Tech Centre and the Vancouver Island University Cowichan Campus.  He will also talk about the Cascadia bio-region and ways to strengthen our north-south connections, discuss research, and share our collective knowledge.  

 Broadway Tech Centre

 Broadway Tech Centre, an industrial brownfield site in Vancouver, features over 400,000 square feet of non-irrigated pre-cultivated extensive sedum roofs, and intensive rooftop gardens built over an existing warehouse structure. Water channels and cascades as well as continuous interlocking pavers and canopy trees provide a diversity of visual and auditory sensations in a productive and creative pedestrian environment serviced by SkyTrain rapid transit.  The Centre was designed by Bunting Coady Architects, with ecological and urban design by Sharp & Diamond Landscape Architecture Inc,

 For more information about the Centre, go to  http://www.broadwaytechcentre.com/about-centre.php

 The Broadway Tech Centre has won numerous awards, including an Award of Excellence from Green Roofs for Healthy Cities.   https://www.canadianarchitect.com/architecture/broadway-tech-centre-in-vancouver-wins-green-roofs-award-of-excellence/1000330428/

 Vancouver Island University

 The green roofs at the Cowichan campus of Vancouver Island University cover over 90% of the building. Students observe the performance of six types of living roof systems including urban agriculture and a blue roof that supports sedges, rushes and Camas lily. Rainwater, not mitigated on the rooftop, chutes down vertical stainless steel channels into a large sponge park comprising wet meadows, wildflower berms, recycled concrete ledges and pathways. The campus is LEED Gold certified.  For more information about the roofs and research, go to  https://web.viu.ca/biomet/projectGreenRoof.htm

A Family of Green Roofs!

Greenroofs.com is a clearinghouse for all information about green roofs. They also have a searchable database of green roof and green wall projects. They also conduct the Virtual Summit. Click here for their website. 

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities provides training and certification, publishes a monthly newsletter, and conducts Cities Alive conference. Click here for their website. 

Technical Resources

The City of Portland's website has a wealth of information and technical resources about ecoroofs (extensive green roofs). Looking for information about ecoroof cost/benefits, energy benefits, plants, soil, etc?  The check out their webpage here.  

Read about green roof monitoring conducted by the City of Portland, Environmental Services in the 2013 Stormwater Management Facility Monitoring Report. Click here to read the report.