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Conservation Technology is located at 2233 Huntingdon Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21211. Professional groups can arrange to visit by emailing sales@conservationtechnology.com or by calling 410-366-1146. Click here to see Part 1 of a video from Baltimore’s Fox 45 Joel D. Smith interviewing Jorg Breuning of Green Roof Service atop the newly planted Icehouse greenroof, here for Part 2, and another here from CNS’ Tori Blake. Visit Green Roof Services’ Facebook page here to see installation photos, and read their following Press Releases: Honey Bees find new home on Baltimore Green Roof of 11.09.10 and Rooftop Garden for honey bees to cap Baltimore Warehouse” of 10.22.10.

Learn more about the following company in The Greenroofs.com Directory: Green Roof Service LLC. Learn about the Anne Arundel Beekeepers Association here.

Tucked into Baltimore’s northwestern warehouse district something new is growing. One of the first roof top gardens designed specifically for honey bees was installed on a new addition to a 105-year-old historic ice-manufacturing plant in Baltimore City. Led by Green Roof Service LLC and Architecture and Design Inc. (ADI), Conservation Technology welcomed one of the region’s first Honey Bee oriented green roofs. The hybrid green roof features an ever-blooming array of plants and a water source for the bees that will live on the roof while offering all of the benefits of green roof technology. The building, owned by Conservation Technology, is currently being renovated in an effort to extend the usefulness of the building by integrating green technology while protecting the uniqueness of the structure.

The Conservation Technology at Icehouse Center is the company’s future headquarters, and three buildings in the Icehouse Center include the actual Icehouse, although the green roof is not on the Icehouse itself. The surface area of the green roof within the parapet walls is approximately 7,000 sf which includes about 750 sf of hard surface (gravel perimeter, a small patio). The extensive area consists of Sempergreen sedum mats installed in 2008 with assistance from Oscar Warmerdam of Sempergreen. The semi-intensive Honey Bee Garden planting was installed in November, 2010. Local volunteers assisted with both phases of the project.

Especially in this dense and mixed used neighborhood, green roofs slow and store contaminated storm-water runoff, reduce air-borne pollutants, and mitigate the urban heat island effect, thus benefiting the urban environment, streams and bays. This green roof is constructed from layers of engineered components that allow a seamless transition from extensive to a semi intensive green roof type. This hybrid green roof is a wall-to-wall or so called monolithic design that meets all requirements of the German FLL Guidelines. Monolithic green roof construction is state-of-the-art and each layer or horizontal module supports and benefits multiple purposes. Together they reduce any environmental impact of the investment and guarantee an incredible life time. All Optigreen products used on the project were made with 100% post-consumer recycled raw materials except for the aluminum edge which is, of course, recyclable.

Diane Odell of Architecture and Design Inc., an architect, landscape designer and Green Roof Professional (GRP), designed the green roof garden with plants that bloom from February to November, in collaboration with Green Roof Service LLC. Odell, who is herself a beekeeper, has utilized her architectural and landscape design skills to create environmentally friendly buildings and gardens since 1994, and lectures at schools and summer camps to help raise awareness of sustainable design. Kat Harrold, accredited Green Roof Professional and employee of Green Roof Service LLC, put the plant list together of plants that support honey bees ? not only on green roofs but also in every yard.

To create the habitat, Odell created large patches of densely planted perennials and shrubs on the 5,500 sf roof that are attractive to honey bees. The main section of the green roof consists of a dense and low growing carpet of different Sedum varieties delivered on a pre-vegetated mat (Sempergreen). This area was installed prior to the semi intensive area. Volunteers interested in learning about green roof technology and honey bees helped to plant a variety of flowering plants including Crocus bulbs, Caryopteris, Aster, Goldenrod and Boltonia that will help sustain the hive. See the illustrative “Honey Geen Meadow Plants” PDF here, where you can order your own 24″x36″ Honey Bee Roof Garden Poster.

Peter Normandt, a Baltimore city bee keeper, provided information on bees and bee keeping during the open house while visitors and volunteers enjoyed an array of honey-based refreshments. Oliver Snyder III, a Maryland State Beekeeper, will maintain the roof top hive. Odell, Normandt, and Snyder are all members of the Anne Arundel Beekeepers Association in Anne Arundel County, MD. Conservation Technology, which has manufactured and distributed advanced technology for energy, water, and environmental conservation for over 25 years, provided all the components for the green roof.

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