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March 2011
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What’s Greener – White Roofs or Green Roofs? Find Out in Washington, D.C. at the Living Architecture Symposium By Steven W. Peck and Jeffrey L. Bruce
At the Living Architecture Regional Symposium in Washington, D.C. on April 11-12, 2011 we will focus on continuing to build the government green roof and wall market with presentations focused on bottom line benefits, new research, as well as a trade show featuring new products and services. The panel discussion at the closing plenary will feature prominent scientists and policy makers and is designed to dispel some of the myths about green roofs, white roofs and climate change benefits. Which systems are really better for addressing climate change? Let the facts decide! On the second day of the Symposium, we’ll be having some extraordinary local tours, including the Awards of Excellence-winning American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Headquarters. GRHC is also proud to be launching a course on Advanced Maintenance, followed in the afternoon by new courses on Urban Rooftop Agriculture and Integrated Water Management for Buildings and Sites. See details below. These half day courses are part of our commitment to provide Green Roof Professionals (GRPs) with the most up to date, leading information on how to maximize the many benefits of green roofs and walls for their clients. Green Roof Professionals can take these half day courses and earn 3.5 hours toward their continuing education credits. For those who are still working towards GRP accreditation, the 101-401 training is also being provided in D.C. on April 12. The U.S. Green Building Council has approved Green Roofs for Healthy Cities as a registered provider, which means courses are now eligible for LEED continuing education credits. Those using AIA, LEED, RCI or APLD credits for application toward their local/regional association or for license renewal can acquire 5.5 continuing education credits by attending the full conference; 5.75 professional development hours can be earned for ASLA. The Symposium on April 11 will also provide GRPs with 6 hours of credits. We have also applied for CEUs for the Symposium from the AIA, USGBC and ASLA.
In terms of professional training, GRHC is proud to provide you with a new service, the Living Architecture Academy, an online resource center which provides hundreds of technical papers for purchase and download, and the proceedings from Vancouver CitiesAlive (papers and audio recordings of presentations and Power Points). This enables GRPs to have access, 24-7, in the comfort of their own offices to all of the information presented at our annual conference in Vancouver. In the near future, we will also be making our advanced training courses available through the Living Architecture Academy, as well as specialized courses and webinars. The Advanced Green Roof Maintenance course is designed to help GRPs and facility managers deal with the key issue of green roof maintenance. Maintenance remains a key challenge for the green roof industry with plant failure due largely to lack of proper maintenance planning, budgeting and implementation. This course will go into detail on best practices associated with maintenance before, during and after green roof installation. The course will be taught by Nathan Griswold, American Hydrotech and Andy Creath, Colorado Green Roofs.
Launched at CitiesAlive 2010, the 8th Annual Green Roof and Wall Conference in Vancouver, BC, the Introduction to Rooftop Urban Agriculture course teaches participants about multiple approaches to growing food on rooftops through design and maintenance principles, and case studies drawn from across North America. Since CitiesAlive 2010, the course instructor Keith Agoada, entrepreneur and founder of Sky Vegetables, has continued to develop the course, this time in collaboration with Ben Flanner, head farmer and one of the founders of the Brooklyn Grange, a 1-acre (40,000 square foot) rooftop farm in Long Island City, Queens.
The Integrated Water Management for Buildings and Sites course presents multiple issues and opportunities associates with the capture, treatment, storage and use of our precious water resources as we strive for the goal of Net Zero Water use. This course will be taught by Jeffrey L. Bruce, GRP, ASIC, ASLA, a renowned green roof expert who provides highly specialized technical support to many of the nation’s leading architectural and landscape architectural firms on a wide variety of project profiles including engineered soils, green roof technologies, urban agronomy, performance sports turf, and irrigation engineering.
On April 12, we also offer courses (discounted for symposium attendees) that prepare you for obtaining your Green Roof Professional (GRP) accreditation: Green Roof Design and Implementation 201, Green Roof Waterproofing and Drainage 301, and Green Roof Plants and Growing Media 401. These courses have been developed by multidisciplinary committees of green roof experts drawn from fields such as civil and structural engineering, architecture, horticulture, roofing and waterproofing, and landscape architecture.
If you can’t join us, make note of the 9th Annual CitiesAlive: Green Roof and Wall Conference in Philadelphia from November 29-Dec 3, 2011. We have issued a broad call for paper and poster abstracts which is due on April 15, 2011. See our website for details. For the Living Architecture Regional Symposium in Washington, D.C., courses can be registered through the same process as registering for the conference. Participants are also welcome to register for one of the training courses or workshops even if you are not able to come to the conference itself. Visit http://wdc.greenroofs.org for more information and to register today. We hope you will be able to join us in Washington, D.C. during the final days of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. It should be beautiful.
Steven W. Peck, GRP, Honorary ASLA and Jeffrey L. Bruce, GRP, ASIC, ASLA
Thanks to our Washington, D.C. sponsors and partners:
Sika Sarnafil
Sky Garden Extensive & Intensive Green Roof Media
greenscreen
Prospect Waterproofing Company
DC Greenworks
Government of the District of Columbia
General Services Administration
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Landscape Architecture Foundation
Greenroofs.com
USGBC National Capital Region Chapter
National Green Centre
Construction Links
Association of Professional Landscape Designers
American Society of Landscape Architects
ED+C 
Steven W. Peck, GRP, Honorary ASLA is Founder and President of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities. Contact Steven at: speck@greenroofs.org.
Jeffrey L. Bruce, FASLA, GRP, ASIC, is a landscape architect and President of Jeffrey L. Bruce & Company, and is the Chair of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities Board of Directors. Contact Jeff at: jbruce@jlbruce.com.
Past Guest Feature Articles The opinions expressed by our Guest Feature writers and editors may not necessarily reflect the beliefs of Greenroofs.com, and are offered to our readers to simply present individual views and experiences and open a dialogue of further discussion, debate and research. Enjoy, and if you have a particular comment, please contact the author or send us an email to: comments@greenroofs.com. Back to Top
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