Green Roofs Considered as Part of UNC Master Plan

Architects, engineers and other University employees gathered Thursday to hear about an aspect of the campus's Environmental Master Plan that aims to help manage stormwater.

The presentation focused on a strategy of building "green roofs."

Presenters said these vegetated rooftops would add aesthetic beauty to roofs, as well as serving other practical purposes such as increasing insulation, doubling the roofs' life spans and reducing sound reflections.

Tom Cahill, an environmental engineer from Cahill Associates who is working on the Environmental Master Plan, spoke about sustainable stormwater management and explained the grass roofs' environmental benefits.

UNC's interest in building green roofs grew after the town of Chapel Hill recently passed new stormwater regulations. Cindy Pollock Shea, UNC sustainability coordinator, said the new regulations to which UNC agreed included not increasing the volume, rate or pollutant load of stormwater leaving campus.

Shea said there is also a developmental ordinance that encourages the University to capture and retain stormwater in the works.

Charlie Miller, representing the company Roofscapes, spoke at the presentation about the specific methods used to construct green roofs.

Cahill said that in highly developed areas, restoration of the landscape to the way it was before development is necessary to replicate the natural water cycle.

"We're trying to sustain the resources so we can use (stormwater) again and our descendants can use it again," Cahill said.

The effects of land development are a major concern for the University because 5.9 million square feet of new buildings are being built during the next eight years as part of the University's Master Plan, Shea said.

She said strategies other than green roofs, such as porous pavement, infiltration beds and circulating runoffs in athletic fields, also are being considered.

Shea said the University plans to put green roofs on two existing buildings on campus -- Carrington Hall and the new Visitor Education Center at the Botanical Gardens. There are also plans to build a green roof on the Ramshead parking lot, which has not yet been constructed.

Diane Gillis, an architect with UNC facilities planning & construction, is in charge of the plans for Carrington, which she said will have a green roof covering about half of the total roof.

The initial interest in a green roof was aesthetics-motivated, Gillis said, but interest magnified because of the new regulations.

Shea said UNC's approach in meeting the regulations puts the University ahead of most institutions in Chapel Hill.

"I think the University is really a leader in how we want to handle stormwater."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.