Rooftop areas (including podium decks) provide valuable, usable space on urban schemes and the modern approach is to use these spaces to benefit the wider development. These areas can be used to replace habitats which would otherwise be lost, enhance biodiversity and provide important public amenity and green spaces in city centres.
In the case of blue roof systems, which can be utilised at podium and roof level, they also support a good SuDS compliant design, providing attenuation and controlled discharge of stormwater. As such, blueroof and green roof systems can contribute significantly towards meeting sustainability criteria.
Blue Roofs are designed to attenuate / slow rainwater discharge as opposed to traditional roofing drainage, whereby it is designed to drain away as quickly as possible. Blue roofs allow the rainfall to be attenuated within the roof build-up before discharging at a defined, controlled rate. This is particularly beneficial on tight urban sites where installation of other attenuation techniques such as ponds or below ground / basement tanks are not feasible.
Geotexan specialise in the design, supply and installation of a wide range of blue roof systems, compatible with a number of different roof types (i.e. inverted, warm roof, uninsulated and podium decks) and surface finishes (green / biodiverse roof, amenity areas with either paving, decking or play areas, and mechanical / solar PV plant). This typically includes everything above the waterproofing system; from attenuation systems, drainage & reservoir layers to insulation, growing media and vegetation layers (such as sedum and wildflower).
Blue roofs contribute significantly to good SuDS design, either with or without a green roof finish. They work by providing temporary storage of stormwater and controlling discharge in line with site planning conditions. Similarly to green roofs they are suitable for implementation on both new-build and retro-fit developments, flat roofs or podium decks with either a warm or inverted roof build up.