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BCIT to conduct ‘green wall’ research

Nov. 3, 2009, Vancouver – Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) has selected the British
Columbia Institute of Technology Centre for Architectural Ecology to conduct
leading edge “green wall” research.

Nov. 3, 2009, Vancouver – Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) has selected the British
Columbia Institute of Technology Centre for Architectural Ecology to conduct
leading edge “green wall” research.

GRHC has also announced that BCIT
will be the official academic co-host for Cities Alive, the 8th Annual Green
Roof and Wall Conference to be held in
Canada for the first time in Vancouver from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2 in 2010.

The green roof on the new convention centre facility in downtown Vancouver.

“Green walls have enormous potential
to improve the health and well being of people by providing aesthetic benefits,
filtering air pollution, reducing energy use, cutting greenhouse gases and
managing stormwater,” said GRHC founder and president Steven Peck. “We are very
pleased to be working with BCIT on this research, and delighted to have them as
our academic co-host for Cities Alive, our
eighth Annual Green Roof and Wall Conference.”

Maureen Connelly, director of the
Centre for Architectural Ecology, said the grant “will allow our Centre to
investigate irrigation and rainfall inputs and the runoff outputs of the living
system in order to integrate living walls into the whole building water re-use
systems. Additionally, the Centre will examine the rainwater interception of
green facades and their capacity to shield the building envelope.”

John English, dean of BCIT’s School
of Construction and The Environment and Chair of the local Cities Alive host
committee, said his group “is looking forward to inviting researchers,
designers and policy makers from around the world to Vancouver in 2010. We can
showcase B.C.’s contributions to the global effort to develop green buildings.”

BACKGROUND

• Green Roofs for Healthy Cities is a non-profit
industry association with a mission to increase awareness of the economic,
social, and environmental benefits of green roofs and green walls and other
forms of living architecture through education, advocacy, professional
development and celebrations of excellence.

• BCIT’s School of Construction
and the Environment (SOCE ) is a highly
regarded educational facility focusing on the natural and built environment.

• BCIT’s Centre of Architectural
Ecology began its mission in 2002 when a
stakeholder workshop identified barriers to the emerging green roof industry in
B.C., and agreed upon the importance of research and partnerships. The Centre
conducts groundbreaking research.