Round-table seminar on green roofs
Three years of University of Malta research on green roofs has shown that the technology can contribute to the improvement of well-being in urban living.
It is common knowledge that urban areas suffer from issues which have an impact on both the physical and mental health of residents, especially children and the elderly. For this reason, the Faculty for the Built Environment’s LifeMedGreenRoof Project has been meeting with policy makers and politicians to push towards creating policies which would favour the adoption of green roofs within the built environment. The project has drafted and distributed to government authorities a policy proposal document highlighting the benefits of green roofs and how these can be integrated within the built environment.
To achieve this, the LifeMedGreenRoof Project has organised a round table discussion. Invited to this event were a number of stakeholders from both government and the opposition. The Dean of the Faculty for the Built Environment, Prof. Alex Torpiano, presided over the activity with presentations given by Landscape Architects Antoine Gatt and Vincent Morris, who manage the project.
Present at the event was the Minister for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change, Dr Jose Herrera, who had already visited the green roof project the day before. Representatives from the Ministry for Education and Employment, the Ministry for Transport and Infrastructure and the LIFE national focal point were also present. The Opposition was represented by Dr Theresa Comodini Cachia.
Both the Minister and the Opposition representatives acknowledged that the issues negatively affecting the urban environment need to be addressed urgently. It was agreed that green infrastructure such as green roofs could play an important role in mitigating these problems including meeting of energy and environmental targets. According to the European Commission, by 2030, European countries need to reduce carbon emissions by 40% and green roofs could be an important means in achieving this.
The potential of green roofs in rendering buildings more energy efficient has been confirmed through the ongoing research at the University as part of this Project. According to observations to date, it transpires that green roofs have the potential of lowering the use of air conditioning for cooling. With flat roofs and sturdy concrete construction, most of our build- ings are well suited to host green roofs. Therefore, if the technology were to be diffused within the normal building practices, less energy would have to be generated during the summer months. This means less expenses for the country and less pollution and carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere. In addition to reducing the carbon footprint of urban areas, green roofs are able to provide several other benefits not only to the building owner but also to the community and environment.
The managers of the LifeMedGreenRoof Project believe that green roofs are important in rendering towns and cities sustainable. This opinion has also been put forward by many countries and municipalities globally which have incentivised and introduced regulations to encourage the dissemination of green roofs within the built fabric. It is hoped that Malta’s policy makers support the benefits of green roofs and work towards integrating this technology thereby creating more sustainable towns and cities.
The LifeMedGreenRoof project is partially funded through LIFE+, which is the EU’s financial instrument supporting environmental project throughout the EU. For more information visit www.lifemedgreenroof.org or find us on Facebook.