Splatsin chooses LiveRoof® brand living roof for its new community centre to reflect a traditional winter shelter, provide stewardship for the earth.

ENDERBY, BC  — Fulfilling a long-held dream of creating a new community centre, Splatsin carefully crafted a new three-story, 33,581 square-foot building to reflect its history and focus on the future by caring for the land. This summer, the building was topped off with a 24,200 square-foot lightweight-planted roof.

The new Splatsin Community Centre was designed to serve multiple functions. The centre provides space for meetings, banquets, weddings, reunions, and concerts. The facility will also have a high school regulation basketball court as well as running track on the mezzanine and will provide many opportunities for community members to access physical activities.

Education outreach is another key focus planned for the new site.

The unique dome-shaped green roof was designed to represent a traditional winter shelter used by Splatsin ancestors. The site design allows stormwater and below-grade drainage to be captured and used to irrigate the vegetated roof as well as ground-level native landscapes around the building and in the area to provide low maintenance and water conservation.

“Incorporating a living, green roof on the community centre was the best way to represent a traditional shelter,” according to Shawn Wiebe, Director of Housing, Infrastructure& Lands for the Splatsin Community. “The planted roof also provides sustainability and longevity for the centre, and provides us with an important water recovery and reuse feature.”

The vegetated roof was grown by NATS Nursery of Langley, BC using a unique evergreen sedum mix with native accent plants, including: Festuca saximontana, Bouteloua gracilis, and Festuca rubra.  As the local LiveRoof licensed grower, green roof experts at NATS Nursery worked closely with the design team and Splatsin leadership to develop this plant palette that reflected the site’s unique design elements.

“Our nursery shares with the Splatsin community a love of the earth, as well as responsibility for its nurturing and care,” said Rod Nataros, Principal, NATS Nursery. “We were honoured to work with representatives of the Splatsin community to help create this beautiful community centre, helping them establish new roots sprouted from their history and tradition.”

Encan Construction and Laing Roofing Ltd. were responsible for the construction and installation of the living roof.

Green roofs provide nature function and beauty. A patented, subterranean modular system unites the soil and plants creating a naturally beautiful meadow-like aesthetic. The roofs provide aesthetic, environmental and social benefits . Financial benefits can also be achieved from a vegetative roof including: extension of roof life, energy conservation, enhanced public relations, and conservation of municipal septic systems.

About Splatsin First Nation

The Splatsin are the most southern tribe of the Shuswap Nation, the largest Interior Salish speaking First Nation in Canada whose aboriginal territory stretches from the BC/Alberta border near the Yellowhead Pass to the plateau west of the Fraser River, southeast to the Arrow Lakes and to the upper reaches of the Columbia River. The Splatsin people reside on Indian reserve lands adjacent to the City of Enderby to the south and across the Shuswap River to the east. www.splatsin.ca

FMLink featured the Splatsin Community Centre as an exemplary project.

Bowling Green’s dining facility is now topped with a living roof.  The green roof was paid for by the students through their optional ‘Green Fund’ contributions made each semester.  The plants were custom-grown in the LiveRoof system by Corso’s Perennials of Sandusky, Ohio.

According to Nick Hennessey, the campus sustainability director, the living roof was added to the facility to help reduce costs of cooling the building, and to reduce stormwater runoff and its impact on the local community and waterways.

Read More > The BG News: Carillon plants “live roof”

Photo by Eric Burgasser, The BG News

With a focus on forward moving healthy, sustainable lifestyles, the Velocity apartment community installs rooftop garden to the delight of community residents.

To Imagine Housing, ‘”Velocity” isn’t just a trendy name for their new apartment community but an embodiment of the concept of moving forward. Velocity, and its neighbor Kirkland Crossing developed by Polygon NW, are located at the South Kirkland Park and Ride, just blocks from Lake Washington Boulevard.  The new community was designed with the residents and environment in mind by using technology to incorporate interaction, health and sustainability.

“Our vision for Velocity was to create a living, moving community for the area’s low income families to take an active role in their health as well as community sustainability,” said Sibyl Glasby, Director of Housing Development for Imagine Housing.  “The living green roof is a sustainable green feature that also provides a beautiful outdoor space for our residents.

Imagine Housing chose the LiveRoof® Hybrid Green Roof System for their 6,140-square foot living garden that includes walking paths, seating and a gas BBQ.  The vegetative roof provides significant benefits to the environment including reducing water run-off and turbidity into the storm water system.   The green roof was designed by Fazio Associates Landscape Architect and installedby Greening America.  Using drought-tolerant native and adaptive plants and locally-sourced engineered soil, the modular living roof was grown to full maturity by GreenFeathers, Inc. of Cornelius, OR.

Green Roofs Enhance Living Space

“We are pleased to have participated in this important housing community,” said Grace Dinsdale, founder and president, Blooming Nursery and GreenFeathers. “We provided fully-mature native plants grown in locally-sourced engineered soil for the Velocity living roof. Not only did this provide a beautiful, lush garden for residents to enjoy immediately, it also contributes to the sustainability of Velocity’s site.”

Velocity offers onsite parking, ready access to transportation, bicycle storage and repair station, a vibrant community area/library with a coffee house feel, a fully-equipped exercise center, and a roof top garden with walking paths, seating and a gas barbeque. A rooftop community room hosts a variety of activities and services designed to enhance our residents’ lives and promote opportunity for engagement within the community.

Velocity meets Evergreen standards for energy efficiency, saving valuable resources and contributing to a clean planet. The homes have been built with both the residents and sustainability in mind, achieving a balance between modern finishes and long-term durability with environmentally friendly materials.  The housing development was designed according to Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED®) standards.   LiveRoof systems can influence several LEED credits in areas of sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources and indoor environmental quality.  Due to potential cost impacts, the project did not pursue LEED accreditation.

Velocity is located at 10711 NE 37th Court, Kirkland, WA 98033