Eco Green Roofs launch Living Roof Designer

Living Roof Designer. Eco green roofs are excited to launch their all new living roof designer. This s a free tool that allows roofing contractors, architects and specifiers to design living roofs for their projects. The software allows you to create a roofing package from roof deck up! Once the living roof is designed the user can download a PDF file that contains a standard detail of the roof build-up, a full specification, images of what the roof is going to look like (great for clients who think all green roofs are like a bowling lawn) and a maintenance schedule. Eco green roofs identified a real problem in the market with regard to many of the specifications and guidelines that currently exist in the market place. After speaking with membrane manufacturers and leading insulation providers (warm roof and inverted) we could see the problems in the industry relating to green roofs. This tool allows the user to create the planting scheme required whether it is a Sedum roof build-up or a bio-diverse roof. And it ensures your client will receive what is required for the building whether it is aesthetics or function (BREEAM) The green roof enquiry level has been rising over the last few years but the economic climate has seen many short cuts made, where often specifications match the GRO code, but because the parameters are quite broad, can be exploited. We have seen many roofs that have been lifted by the wind and after weighing the system at 45 kg per Meter Square when put into an inverted solution there is a guaranteed risk of uplift. (Which needs 80kg minimum to weight the system down) Many of the problems from green roofs occur from a poorly designed growing medium. This is the key to a good system and rather than using a generic mix, Eco Green roofs design different substrates to support different vegetation types. Eco Green Roofs Technical Director Dr Chloe Molineux has a Ph D in Green roof substrates and is still involved with continued research in green roof products. This expertise allows Eco Green Roofs to design science-backed products that are scientifically proven to work for their intended purpose. Eco Green roofs are also heavily involved with further research into the change of bio diversity on a green roof over a years period of time. We have found that many of the bio diverse roofs designed cannot maintain the level of bio diversity initially installed in the scheme without a number of maintenance visits. This is due to many wildflowers being annuals and also the natural competitiveness of many plants. There are many specs that show over 30 species of wildflowers in a small area, this is very hard to accommodate even at ground level and adding the extremely harsh conditions at roof level we have seen this number diminish if the roof is not maintained properly.