Begrünte Dächer - Wohlfühloase und Notwendigkeit

Die Optigrün international AG ist auch auf der Messe BAU 2015 mit einem eigenen Stand vertreten und präsentiert ihre aktuellen Innovationen. Dabei stehen folgende Themen und Systemlösungen im Vordergrund:

Genutzte Dachlandschaften, Lebensraum Dachterrasse, Dachgarten

Die Dachterrasse als zusätzlicher Pausen- und Wohnraum - mit dem durchdringungsfreien und auflastgehaltenen Geländersystem "SkyGard" ist dies gefahrlos möglich. Und mit den Optigrün-Pflanzgefäßen Typ Alu lassen sich viele Gestaltungsideen umsetzen.

Industriebegrünungen mit Mehrfachnutzen

Industriedächer sollten nicht nur aufgrund des Bauauflagenzwangs begrünt werden, sie vereinen eine Vielzahl an positiven Wirkungen: ökologischer Ausgleich, Schutz der Dachabdichtung und Regenwassermanagement - dies und vieles mehr bietet die Optigrün-Systemlösung "Retentionsdach".

Steildachbegrünung - sicher und günstig

Das Optigrün-Schubsicherungssystem Typ P mit der FKD 58 SD eignet sich für geneigte Dächer bis etwa 35° Dachneigung. Der Vorteil des Systems liegt in der einfachen Verlegung und dem günstigen Materialpreis, so dass Steildachbegrünungen kostengünstig realisierbar sind.

Fachberater stehen für konkrete Objektdetails und allgemeine Informationen schon auf der Messe zur Verfügung und unterstützen Planer und Ausführende auf dem Weg zu einer fachgerechten und dauerhaft funktionsfähigen Dach- und Fassadenbegrünung.

The green roof

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

A green roof, or living roof, can aid to regulate the temperature of a house or building by keeping it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

In essence one could even graze some goats on them as goats can indeed climb ladders being quite agile. In fact in many mountain areas this used to be a rather common sight, as well as in some Scandinavian countries.

Generally only grass and/or wild plants that do not require deep soil are used, or found, on living roofs, and it is better to plan a building from the beginning to accommodate a green roof, as retro-fitting is an expensive idea.

If you have the right kinds of roof that is not too steep you could retrofit a green roof, sort of, in that you could have plant boxes on your roof in which you could grow either wild flowers or even herbs, if you can access the boxes for harvesting.

It must be considered though that soil, especially wet soil, is heavy and many a roof that was not built for a green roof might not withstand too much of that kind of weight. The flat-roofed garage, for instance, might be a candidate for the use of planters for wild flowers, bedding flowers, or herbs, especially if the roof is tar-paper, aka roofing felt.

As said previously, the real green or living roof is only something for the house that has been designed and built with it in mind. Retro-fitting is a little too difficult and costly.

In the future we could be seeing more green roofs as standard incorporated in the designs of homes and especially into the self-build ones. The earthships are a real example of this but so are the houses with grass on the roofs in other countries that are already a design that is centuries old.

© 2012

London to showcase green roofs

by Michael Smith

London's best way to demonstrate visibly its commitment to the environment when the world looks its way in the run up to the 2012 Olympics would be, according to the opinion of Richard Blakeway, a sea of green roofs.

Richard Blakeway, environmental advisor to Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, suggested this when he spoke at the World Green Roofs Congress in the capital on Wednesday.

He spoke of the projected growth of London in the next years and its need to provide homes for a million more inhabitants by 2018.

Mr. Blakeway said that the authorities have got to ensure is that as many as possible of these new buildings have green roofs.

According to him the Mayor has very much put green roofs at the centre of his climate change adaptation policy and his policy to greening the city.

London would and could learn from other cities, he added, where incentives are put in place to encourage green roofs, whether these be carrot, stick or a combination of both.

To this one can but only say that we use too much of the stick with regards to green ventures in this country; we need more of the carrot, much more in fact.

Outlining the many advantages of green roofs the Mayor's advisor said they would reduce the urban heat island effect, encourage biodiversity, control flooding and urban drainage, provide a valuable public green spaces in an ever-more-densely populated city and even save money.

As energy prices continue to skyrocket, he said, the added insulation from green roofs can help keep bills down.

A green roof scheme in Canary Wharf saves the building's owners over £5,000 a year, he said, while Toronto reports annual savings of up to $22m from its green roofs and the figure in Chicago, a city which has embraced the idea, are around £100m.

He said City Hall was currently working on planning guidance that would make green roofs more attractive to developers, and argued that they could be affordable on everything from social housing to riverside penthouses.

The concept of pushing green roofs is in keeping with the emerging flavour of Mr Johnson's environmental policy, which favours promoting improvements to the capitals open spaces and tree planting over technical carbon-based fixes that the public can sometimes struggle to understand.

While green roofs do all of that what the advisor to the Mayor of London said, e.g. that they would reduce the urban heat island effect, encourage biodiversity, control flooding and urban drainage, provide a valuable public green spaces in an ever-more-densely populated city and even save money, in order to really improve the drainage situation, however, in town and countryside, to fight flash floods and such, we must put a stop to the concreting over of all the front yards and such.

© M Smith (Veshengro), September 2008
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Urban Sea of Green

by Jo Hooper, 22 Apr 2007


The phenomenon of Green Roofs currently sweeping across Europe inverts our spatial perception by taking vegetation from the ground to the rooftops. Aside from their ecological benefits, nobody would deny the aesthetic improvement of replacing an ugly old rooftop with a floral delight. Advocated by the UK Minister for housing, Yvette Cooper, these ‘living roofs’ come in two main types, ‘extensive’, which needs little maintenance, consisting of laying moss or sedum as a fertile base to nurture wild vegetation, and ‘intensive’ roofs, basically the creation of a more labor-intensive roof-top garden or patio. Aside from absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere, green roofs also take-in rainwater, meaning run-off and flooding is lessened, and they act as natural insulation by keeping heat from escaping. The figures suggest savings of 3-10% on your winter fuel bills Best of all, they provide an excellent way of attracting wildlife back to the city.

Although turf-topped buildings were popular in the 1930’s, their current presence in the UK is much less than in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In the Austrian city of Linz, there are 40 acres of green roofs to be found. That’s the equivalent of 40 football pitches! The British government provides no financial incentives to property developers, but Swiss environmentalists have had the opposite experience after research in the biodiversity found in urban areas. Swiss Federal law requires all new roofs larger than 100m squared to be constructed with vegetation.


British examples of these rabbit burrow-esque abodes are growing. Nottingham University library has taken to the turf, as has the Horniman Museum in London. Canary Wharf boasts the highest green roof in Europe covering the Barclay’s bank headquarters at 160m. Manchester ’s city center, historically an industrial and polluted place, will see a landmark green roof erected this summer over the Piccadilly Pavilion.

If you are planning to green-roof your property, it is advisable to check with your local authority as rules over planning permission vary. But in some urban areas including a living roof in your plans for a new building can make it more favorable to the council. According to Dusty Gedge, one of the first pioneers of green roofs in the UK, someone who regularly practices DIY at home should not find the creation of a roof garden overly difficult. Certainly it is less costly than roofing with the usual materials like tar and bitumen.

Unlike the Chinese government’s extensive forest reclamation programs, the UK’s tree-planting efforts tend to manifest themselves mostly as local, community projects.
However, by capitalizing on the acres of unused space available above the urban landscape, green roofs are helping to put a little more vegetation on the map.

For more information see www.livingroofs.org