15 years of green roofs in Quebec: the contribution of Nataliia Gerzhova’s PhD work

15 February 2022

In 2004, the Montréal Urban Ecology Centre (CEUM) began studying the potential of green roofs. Through various collaborations, notably with the CRSNG Research Chair on Eco-responsible Wood Construction (CIRCERB), the CEUM has built the necessary arguments in favour of green roofs.

Despite its many proven ecological benefits, the costs related to bringing existing flat roof structures up to standard to allow for the installation of green roofs proved and still prove to be a great challenge. In 2015, the Régie du Bâtiment du Québec published Technical Criteria for the Construction of Green Roofs. It is following the publication of these criteria that Nataliia Gerzhova, at the time a doctoral student in wood science at the CIRCERB of Université Laval and within the CRMR, published her thesis entitled: Caractérisation et analyse des risques incendie dans les toitures végétalisées in 2020. This thesis scientifically confirmed that heat propagation and fire from a green roof did not pose a major fire risk to the building, something the green roof community had suspected for decades.

A lot has been done since then, but even today, the Quebec green roof industry still faces several obstacles.

Read the full article by Owen Rose, architect, at the following link.


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