I thought I’d deviate
during this month’s post. One of the
intents of the blog is to share my experiences during green roof construction
and design. Another is to dive into how
I’ve had to deal with the other aspects of selling and maintaining roofs- the
marketing and PR. Since green roofs were
such a hit (and they still are, but with a bit less star power) I would get
caught up in their drama at times too!
We had a customer who had
recently installed a green roof. I was
up for a routine maintenance visit and noticed some waterfowl had created a
nest, and the mother was protecting it closely.
I was thrilled! This is one of
the interesting things about green roofs- they will create biodiversity whether
the building owner wants it or not. It’s
just nature finding its niche. I called
up the local paper thinking this would be a great story! They wrote a brief article and posted it in
the paper the same week. From my
perspective, it seemed I had done a great thing to promote green roofs in the
area- especially because this roof was not accessible.
I was wrong.
I got a phone call from
the PR department, very upset that the public was now aware of this nest. (Ironically, the PR folks didn’t know about
the green roof before the article printed.)
The building was an aquarium (and again, I was thinking they would enjoy
the environmental stewardship promo).
However, there was threat of avian flu at the time, and they were more
concerned about protecting the animals in the building than the waterfowl
nesting on their roof. In fact, the facility manager was so mad about the
waterfowl (possibly harboring disease) they decided to remove the nest and the
mother. Not good PR from their
perspective. And I shouldn’t have opened
my mouth. Lesson learned. Get permission from the owner first before
promotion.
Realistically, that really
made me mad- not at the facility manager specifically- but the situation. Why would they install a green roof if they
didn’t fully understand what could, and would, happen? And who is “THEY” anyway? Who was supposed to understand the bio-diversity
perspective, the cost for maintenance, and how maintaining the roof may affect
water quality. Clearly, the decisions
made about installing the green roof up front did not involve all people who
would have to “deal” with it. That’s a
scary reality that is, unfortunately, common.
In Europe, the mindset is very different from American's idea of how green roofs should function. They often design to create habitat for specific wildlife.
Eventually, after our
maintenance term was up, the facility manager decided a staff horticulturist
could handle the green roof maintenance.
Problem was, the individual had experience in maintaining tropical
plants. (Same thing applies for me- just
because I’m a horticulturist doesn’t mean I could take over a rainforest
ecosystem!) I am not sure if the green
roof is thriving. A couple years ago I
read another article boasting this new maintenance they are doing on their
own. I suppose the aquarium wanted this
PR. However, it looked fairly weedy and
the article was very general in nature.
Hm.
The coolest thing about
maintaining the roof was its accessibility.
The aquarium building had tight security as one would expect. But, to get to the roof, I needed to be escorted
behind the scenes. That’s right! The animal cages, small aquariums, and
scientists working under florescent lights.
The tanks of living prey kept alive for feeding time for the predator
species on display. The “replacement”
species- I guess they need to make sure they always have enough frogs and
goldfish on display at all times, haha. A security guard over time took a liking to
me, and gave me the grand tour one afternoon.
If you ever get a chance, take someone up on the “behind the scenes” of
a building, or exhibit, or even an art gallery.
You never know what you may discover!
