Bluegreen Roofs to Combat Flooding

Increasingly, flooding is happening worldwide. Particularly, the intensity of rain showers, coupled with extended dry periods, leads to parts of the world flooding during severe downpours. The recent floods in places like the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States, and Australia serve as prime examples. Green infrastructure such as Bluegreen Roofs presents the solution to this issue.

Increase in Torrential Rain Events

As a result of climate change, there is an increase in the number of extreme rainfall events on a global scale. In many places, the streets are regularly flooded. Furthermore, the number of peak downpours each year will only increase, resulting in more water than the stormwater drains can handle. This creates an unsustainable situation for sewer systems and will lead to even more water damage in the future due to increasingly frequent rainstorms.

Measures from Municipalities and Regional Water Boards

To make our cities future-proof, local governments and water boards are implementing measures. Effective stormwater management is necessary. An increasing number of municipalities have established a stormwater ordinance or code, which sets requirements for new constructions, conversions, and renovations regarding the collection and storage of rainwater. The rainwater ordinance enables municipalities to establish rules for discharging rainwater runoff. Through these regulations, a municipality can enforce the creation of water storage, both in new and existing buildings.

Underground Water Storage

To comply with these rules, architects, property developers, and housing corporations can select from various solutions when constructing or renovating buildings. They can install water storage systems underground in the form of bioswales (for temporary storage), infiltration crates, or water tanks. In the last two cases, the collected water can be reused, but it requires a significant amount of underground space and does not reintroduce greenery into the urban area.

Sempergreen Bluegreen Roof – for existing buildings

The Sempergreen Bluegreen Roof Roof is a proven and innovative green roof concept that, unlike Purple-Roof Roofs, can also be applied to existing buildings. This is because the Planus Roof is a lightweight green roof system that can also be installed on roofs with a slope of up to 2⁰. Thanks to its unique construction layers, the Planus Roof is able to fully buffer new downpours, even when saturated, and to drain them in a controlled manner, thereby minimizing the risk of flooding on a project.

Sempergreen Purple-Roof – for water storage on new buildings

The Purple-Roof Roof is a popular water storage solution for new construction projects with flat zero fall (dead flat) roofs. Sempergreen offers various Purple-Roof Roof systems: in addition to Sedum plants, it is also possible to cover the roof with vegetation such as herbs, wildflowers, or host and nectar plants to increase its ecological value. This water-storing green roof system can also be used in combination with solar panels.

So there are plenty of ways to store precipitation. We humans have experience in dealing with water. Let’s solve this water problem together!

Added value for your project

Would you like to know the added value of a Bluegreen Planus Roof or Bluegreen Incline Roof for your project? Or are you looking for more information? Then please contact one of our advisers via the button below. They’ll gladly help you out!