Our daughter, Anjuli, has been writing, filming and editing our “This Week in Review” video since August, 2010 and each week you can expect to learn What’s New here on Greenroofs.com.   Here’s the transcript for April 1, 2011 –  click on the photo below to see the video, or here.   Enjoy!

–   Hello, I’m Anjuli Velazquez and welcome to This Week in Review for April 1st, 2011 on GreenroofsTV.

– Project of the Week

–   Our projects of the week are the Cheyenne I and III (251 & 253 Medical Center Blvd.), greenroofs built in 2007 and 2009 in Webster, Texas.   Developer and General Contractor, Jacob White Construction Company, wanted the buildings to stand apart from all other commercial buildings in the Houston area.   And they did just that when 251 East became the first LEED Gold certified building that side of Austin and 253 West gained LEED-CS Platinum certification in 2009.   The most impressive and ambitious part of these projects are the greenroofs complete with gardens, walking paths, and a lush landscaped area.   On September 13, 2008 Hurricane Ike went across the site as a strong Category 2 hurricane with 120+ mph winds and 11 inches of rain, yet there was no impact on the green roof nor the building.   In both cases, Webb Architects designed a custom system using EnkaRetain & Drain from Colbond with a locally designed growing media mix – the material cost savings alone was in the neighborhood of $250,000 each.   Approximately 73% of all rain water is retained, while the excess is transported to the roof drains that direct it to underground cisterns for storage and that reclaimed water is used for everything from irrigating the grounds to flushing the toilets.

–   To learn more about the Cheyenne I and Cheyenne III greenroofs, click on our project of the week  links on our homepage.

–   “What’s New“

–   Advertiser Press Release:   Metro Green Visions introduces MGV GroRoof Hybrid Green Roof System. MGV GroRoof, a new modular green roof system, is poised to make a strong impact in the marketplace, offering the best of both worlds, it installs like a modular tray system but functions and appears like a monolithic extensive green roof.

–   The American Horticultural Society is pleased to announce that Ed Snodgrass is the 2011 recipient of the G.B. Gunlogson Award.   The award is one of 12 Great American Gardeners Awards that the AHS presents annually to individuals, organizations, and businesses that represent the best in American gardening.   Congrats to Ed, co-owner of Emory Knoll Farms and our very own contributing editor of the “Ask Ed“ Plant Column here on Greenroofs.com!

– Green Roofs for Healthy Cities is pleased to announce the results of its 2011 Annual Industry Survey of Corporate Members which found that the greenroof industry grew by 28.5% over the course of 2010, which was up significantly from the 16% growth recorded in 2009!  The City of Chicago was #1, with Washington D.C. #2 in the Annual Top Ten U.S. Cities List.

–   Read our latest guest feature contributing editor blog post on Sky Gardens by Christine Thuring, “EcoBuild London (March 2011).”   Christine talks about the world’s largest sustainable construction fair, the biggest EcoBuild yet with over 50,000 visitors, over 1,300 suppliers and more than 130 free seminar sessions feazturing over 600 speakers.

–   (Check out Linda’s latest Sky Gardens Blog post about the “GPW: Cheyenne I and III (251 & 253 Medical Center Blvd.)” which has info on research data for the buildings.

–   Joblinks Update:    ZinCo USA is looking for two Regional Account Managers for Architectural/Contractor Green Roof Sales. One is located in Boston, MA and the other on in Philadelphia, PA.   Go to greenroofs.com/joblinks.htm  to apply to these jobs and check out our other Green Roof Jobs postings.    Go to greenroofs.com/joblinks.htm to apply to these jobs and check out our other Green Roof Jobs postings.

–   Industry News: New “Design Guidelines and Maintenance Manual for Green Roofs in the Semi-Arid and Arid West“ are released.  The guidelines are a collaboration of the University of Colorado Denver, City and County of Denver, Green Print Denver and the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District.

–   “Upcoming Events“

–   April 4th & 5th: is the Rooftop Rainforest TV programme featuring Dusty Gedge, which will be broadcast on Sky 1 HD in the UK.

–  April 5th: is a Green Infrastructure Ontario Coalition: One Day Training Workshop in Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada.

–  April 6th – 7th: is Water & Environment 2011, CIWEM’s Annual Conference in London, United Kingdom.

–  April 7th & 12th: is Designing with Nature – Compost BMP Design Webinar for Green Infrastructure and LID.

–  April 7th – 12th: is RCI – 26th International Convention and Trade Show in Reno, Nevada.

–  And on April 8th – 9th: is Green Build Cornwall in Cornwall, United Kingdom.

–   “In the News“

–   Ross Dulmaine of IBTimes reports on “Green roof uberwork: Bjarke Ingels’ M2 House.”   He says “from a distance the M2 house looks like just another little rolling hill.   Approach more closely and you find a modern, subtly camouflaged residence whose roof is covered in beautiful, easy to maintain sedum.”   Located in Denmark, the home was designed to blend into its rural surroundings and one side features huge, light-infusing glass sections which provide plenty of natural light to the living and kitchen areas.   Check out the article on IBTimes for some more beautiful photos.

–   Sandy Hingston of Philly Mag’s The Philly Post invites you to “Build A Green-Roof Birdhouse.”   In Longwood Gardens, she took a birdhouse-making class with the most cutting-edge architectural design: a green roof.   Longwood has been experimenting with bluebird houses in its fields for years hoping to attract more but with local summers heating up, eggs were reaching boiling points inside these birdhouses.   Green roofs create a heat differential that aids airflow and reduces interior temperatures.   The sedums used were specially grown at Ed Snodgrass‘  Emory Knoll Farms in Street, Maryland where he focuses on perennial green-roof plants that can stay outdoors year-round.

–   Jeffrey Tomich of stltoday.com asks “Five Questions with green roofer Kelly Luckett.”  He talks about how Kelly Luckett, president of Green Roof Blocks, is taking back one rooftop at a time in St. Louis.   Kelly explains that there are many benefits to green roofs: they soak up about half of the storm water that would otherwise run off into gutters, they keep rooftops cooler, saving energy in the buildings underneath and they provide a habitat for bees, butterflies and birds.   Be sure to visit this article to read Kelly’s answers to questions like how he got into the green roof business, how green roofs are priced and what’s next for Greenroofs.com’s “Green Roof Guy.”

–   To learn more about these stories and new ones posted daily, go to our  In the News or newslinks section of our website.

–   Have something you think we should know about and post on our website?   You can send us your green articles, videos and images to editor@greenroofs.com.

–   Stay up-to-date with what’s going on at Greenroofs.com by subscribing to our greenroofsTV channel on YouTube, following us on Twitter, liking us on Facebook and being a member of our network on LinkedIn.

–   Coming Soon: Stayed tuned for our latest Sky Gardens – Greenroofs of the World episode, The Cook+Fox Architects Office in Manhattan, New York!

–   This has been This Week in Review for April 1st, 2011 on GreenroofsTV.  I’m Anjuli Velazquez and I’ll see you next week!

*This week’s episode is sponsored by The Greenroof Directory, brought to you by Greenroofs.com.*

Did we miss something?   We’d love to hear from you!

~ Linda V.