 (click to enlarge) | Black and Veatch Green Roof Project Location: Overland Park, Kansas Contractor: JE Dunn Construction Co. S&W Waterproofing Project Manager: Matt Dierks Description: The Black & Veatch green roof project is an addition to their world headquarters, a 614,000-square foot building that has undergone a massive rebuilding and renovation over the last three years. |
S&W was contracted to build the green roof as part of their “Innovation Pavilion”, a separate structure that includes other sustainable features such as a solar garden with photovoltaic panels and a geothermal field that uses the earth’s consistent soil temperature to increase heating and cooling efficiency in the building.
The design of the pavilion was very unique – full of sharp angles and curves which made our work slightly more challenging, but ultimately very rewarding. Safety, as always when working on a project like this, was a primary concern for our crew as the roof had low walls around the perimeter, therefore we had to take extra precaution to protect our workers from falling off the roof at all times. We accomplished this by installing a clamp-on guardrail system around the perimeter of the roof.
When creating a green roof, the most critical step is laying down the roof membrane with zero mistakes. In this case, the membrane was going to protect hundreds of thousands of dollars in high-end furniture, fixtures, and finishes contained below in the multi-million dollar structure. We began by installing a hot-applied rubber roofing membrane over the existing concrete roof deck.
A 215-mil, reinforced, hot rubberized asphalt membrane has distinct advantages over a conventional roof membrane. This roof is typically installed at 3 to 4 times the thickness of standard roofs and has been detailed several times during the installation, thus eliminating future problems. It also has an added benefit to be the only membrane designed and promoted to last for the life of the structure.
Once the membrane was installed and double-checked for quality and effectiveness, we then layered that with insulation, a drainage layer, and finally a filter fabric. Our landscaped contractor then put in the irrigation, soil and plantings, which offered the owner a system warranty or a warranty from the top of the structural concrete to the top of the landscaping. It is installed directly to the structural substrate with the insulation, soil and plantings set up over the top. That greatly reduces both the thermal movement and stresses of typical membrane roof assemblies. Additionally, the system warranty is not affected by “ponded” water on the system.
One of the other challenges we had to address during the project concerned unusual and project specific detailing. The building addition that makes up the pavilion was built adjacent to the main building but is separated by an expansion joint. Our work involved installing flexible flashing from the addition to the main building, making it water tight but still allowing for independent movement of the two structures. Our expert field technicians did an outstanding job with this part of the job.
The finished product has received rave reviews from the client as well as other companies, clients and consultants that have seen the building in Overland Park. Our finished product stands out not only for its beauty, but for the benefits it provides Black and Veatch in particular, and the metropolitan area in general.
For Black and Veatch, the green roof helps contribute LEED credits for storm water design and heat island effects. Despite some cynicism in some parts of the business world about the efficacy of green roofs in the past, over the last five to ten years, there is more than enough data to show the incredible cost savings a properly installed green roof provides, like the one S&W Waterproofing did.
The design of the pavilion was very unique – full of sharp angles and curves which made our work slightly more challenging, but ultimately very rewarding. Safety, as always when working on a project like this, was a primary concern for our crew as the roof had low walls around the perimeter, therefore we had to take extra precaution to protect our workers from falling off the roof at all times. We accomplished this by installing a clamp-on guardrail system around the perimeter of the roof.
When creating a green roof, the most critical step is laying down the roof membrane with zero mistakes. In this case, the membrane was going to protect hundreds of thousands of dollars in high-end furniture, fixtures, and finishes contained below in the multi-million dollar structure. We began by installing a hot-applied rubber roofing membrane over the existing concrete roof deck.
A 215-mil, reinforced, hot rubberized asphalt membrane has distinct advantages over a conventional roof membrane. This roof is typically installed at 3 to 4 times the thickness of standard roofs and has been detailed several times during the installation, thus eliminating future problems. It also has an added benefit to be the only membrane designed and promoted to last for the life of the structure.
Once the membrane was installed and double-checked for quality and effectiveness, we then layered that with insulation, a drainage layer, and finally a filter fabric. Our landscaped contractor then put in the irrigation, soil and plantings, which offered the owner a system warranty or a warranty from the top of the structural concrete to the top of the landscaping. It is installed directly to the structural substrate with the insulation, soil and plantings set up over the top. That greatly reduces both the thermal movement and stresses of typical membrane roof assemblies. Additionally, the system warranty is not affected by “ponded” water on the system.
One of the other challenges we had to address during the project concerned unusual and project specific detailing. The building addition that makes up the pavilion was built adjacent to the main building but is separated by an expansion joint. Our work involved installing flexible flashing from the addition to the main building, making it water tight but still allowing for independent movement of the two structures. Our expert field technicians did an outstanding job with this part of the job.
The finished product has received rave reviews from the client as well as other companies, clients and consultants that have seen the building in Overland Park. Our finished product stands out not only for its beauty, but for the benefits it provides Black and Veatch in particular, and the metropolitan area in general.
For Black and Veatch, the green roof helps contribute LEED credits for storm water design and heat island effects. Despite some cynicism in some parts of the business world about the efficacy of green roofs in the past, over the last five to ten years, there is more than enough data to show the incredible cost savings a properly installed green roof provides, like the one S&W Waterproofing did.
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