Delivering green roofs for schools
March 23, 2009
The Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA) is looking for companies interested in taking part in a project to ensure greater take-up of the idea of green roofs by schools.
Green roofs are systems that use vegetation and soil to provide a sustainable roofing solution, with benefits including a contribution to sustainable drainage and improved thermal performance as well as better sound insulation. Despite these benefits though, green roofs have not been widely used in the UK.
However, with the requirements for sustainability and climate change adaptation, their use is being championed by a wider range of organisations, CIRIA said, and green roofs are now recognised as an important contribution to urban quality of life and planning.
Several new schools have incorporated them into the design of buildings, but often as a design feature rather than being integrated into the core activity of schools and actively used as an educational resource. Designers, constructors, local education authorities, head teachers, governing bodies and parent associations all need to consider the value that a green roof can provide over the life of the school or educational building, CIRIA argued.
Its latest project, delivered in partnership with Livingroofs.org, aims to produce guidance and to link specification and design with curriculum requirements at various stages in the education system, as well supporting the use of green roofs.
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