Maintenance

Self Maintained or Manicured?

Another perceived barrier is the cost of maintaining a green roof. This cost though is relative to what kind of green roof is installed and how the owner wishes it to be used. Intensive green roofs can generally be considered as elevated parks and therefore require similar maintenance. Extensive green roofs require less maintenance and in general this can add only about £1/m² per year more than the cost of maintaining a standard roof.

However, it is worth noting that in Germany most companies stop green roof manufacturers’ recommended maintenance regimes after a number of years as they have fulfilled the planning criteria and have let the roofs go ‘wild’. They merely visit the roof once a year to ensure that problematical shrubs and trees that could impact on the membranes have not colonised. This is generally a safety precaution, as green roofs are installed with root membranes and as they have shallow growing mediums, such plants would wither in time.

In general therefore extensive green roofs should be reasonably self-maintaining unless the client requires the roofs to look ‘manicured’.