The Enduring Advantage
The Living Building Challenge
The Living Building Challenge (LBC) is a philosophy, advocacy tool, and certification program that addresses development at all scales, with the core underlying principle that buildings should mimic nature and natural systems. Toxic materials (Red List Chemicals) are not permitted on projects and LBC aims to eliminate their use. A flower metaphor is used to illustrate how all elements of the built environment are rooted in place.
Administered by the International Living Future Institute (ILFI), LBC is a certification program and a framework for manufacturers to create products that are healthy and free of toxins, socially responsible and respect the rights of workers, and net positive and beneficial for both people and the environment. There are three pathways to certification: Imperative, Petal, and Full Living Product Certification. The Petals of the Living Product Challenge have specific Imperatives that define the actions needed to achieve that Petal:
- Place (Responsible Place, Habitat Exchange, Living Economy Sourcing)
- Water (Water Footprint, Net Positive Water)
- Energy (Energy Footprint, Net Positive Energy)
- Health + Happiness (Red List, Transparent Material, Health, Human Thriving)
- Materials (Responsible Industry, Regenerative Materials, Net Positive Waste, Net Positive Carbon)
- Equity (Ethical Supply Chain, Equitable Investment, Just Organizations, Social Co-Benefits)
- Beauty (Inspiration + Education, Beauty + Spirit)
Commercial roofing can support the Materials petal. Manufacturers have to provide documentation that products used are Red List-free.
WELL Building Standard
The WELL Building Standard™ is an evidence-based system for measuring, certifying, and monitoring the performance of building features that impact health and wellbeing, and is also the world’s first building standard focused exclusively on human health and wellness. The standard is divided into 10 concepts: air, water, nourishment, light, movement, thermal comfort, sound, materials (specifically dealing with material transparency), mind, and community.
Case Study: Environmental Costs and Benefits of Roof Resurfacing: CF Champlain Mall
Photo courtesy of SOPREMA
CF Champlain Mall in Dieppe, New Brunswick, Canada.
Type of solution: Waterproofing
Type of work: Resurfacing
Resurfacing surface area: 16,304 m2 (175,500 ft2)
Resurfacing a roof has multiple economic and environmental benefits. The real estate developer Cadillac Fairview, the consulting firm WSP Canada, Inc. and the selected roof manufacturer chose this solution in order to ensure the durability of part of the roof of the CF Champlain Mall located in Dieppe, New Brunswick. The work was carried out over an area of 175,500 ft2 (16,304 m2) of the roof, which has a total area of approximately 1,000,000 ft2 (92,903 m2).
The mitigation of environmental impacts was very important on this large-scale project. Indeed, resurfacing not only extended the service life of the roof, but also reduced the quantity of waste, materials, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well as energy consumed in the manufacture and transport of replacement materials.
This option made it possible to reduce by 80 percent the number of truck trips to bring materials to the site. Indeed, only five shipments from 53-foot trucks were needed for the resurfacing, whereas a complete replacement would have required 25 shipments. This solution also reduced the amount of raw materials required by 31 percent.
The decision to resurface part of the roof on the CF Champlain Mall made it possible to reduce waste and avoid the transport of more than 160 waste containers to a landfill, which represents approximately 263 tons of residual materials that would have been generated by a complete replacement.
In addition, the volume of GHG emissions avoided thanks to this resurfacing is considerable. Designers calculated a reduction of 67 percent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions linked to the production of materials and their transport to the site. A complete replacement would have generated 11.3 tons of CO2 eq., versus resurfacing, which generated 3.7 tons of CO2 eq.
Good guidelines for the responsible design and specification of a roof should be guided by energy savings, sustainability, optimal use of raw materials, and waste reduction. The resurfacing technique used at CF Champlain Mall extends the useful life of a roof and reduces the amount of material sent to landfills. Although the lifespan of the materials in resurfacing generally varies from 25 to 30 years, the real estate developer CF Champlain decided to be proactive and perform a first resurfacing after 20 years in 2019. Doing so did not require the replacement of the existing roof system, that is to say the vapor barrier, the insulation, the support panel, and the two-ply system. Compared to a complete replacement, this first resurfacing extended the life of the existing system by at least 25 years.
The method selected for the resurfacing additionally makes it possible to carry out two more resurfacings in the future. These potential projects would extend the life of the existing system by 50 to 60 years.
The Champlain study reveals that resurfacing can significantly mitigate, delay, or even prevent some environmental impacts for commercial roof projects. It is a simple solution that also increases the durability of the structure. Another notable benefit of resurfacing is that it reduces the time required to complete the work and lowers the cost of materials. Compared to a complete replacement, resurfacing helps reduce the purchase costs of new materials by 45-50 percent. From a long-term perspective, this represents considerable savings which increase with the frequency and number of resurfacings required. When compared with a complete replacement, resurfacing has reduced the time required to carry out work on site by approximately 35 percent.
Case Study: Old and New Together: Museum of the American Revolution
Photo courtesy of SOPREMA
The Museum of the American Revolution, Philadelphia, PA.
Type of solution: Blue and green roof
Type of work: New
Resurfacing surface area: 16,304 m2 (175,500 ft2)
The Museum of the American Revolution is located in the heart of Philadelphia, Pa., a city that played a vital role in America’s founding. Standing three stories tall, the museum will house original artifacts, display settings, and theaters for visitors to explore. Each exhibit will display a different part of America’s history and will come together to tell the story of America’s founding.
Multiple innovative commercial roofing products, ranging from an SBS-modified bitumen base ply for use in approved multi-ply membrane and flashing assemblies to a modular vegetated roofing system, were used to complete this project. The Museum of the American Revolution is unique in the fact that it has an exposed SBS roof membrane, extensive vegetated roofs, terrace roofs with pavers, and even several vegetated wall systems. The building resembles nineteenth-century architecture with a distinctly modern flare.
By installing approximately 9,500 square feet of extensive vegetated roofing and 6,800 square feet with a high albedo, the building is working to reduce the heat island effect in Philadelphia. As an added measure to ensure the waterproofing integrity, an electronic leak detection device was used to identify any cracks that may allow for water penetration.
End notes
1National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Sustainability and the U.S. EPA. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
2Hays, S.P. 1987. “Beauty, Health, and Permanence: Environmental Politics in the United States”, 1955-1985 (Studies in Environment and History). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
3“Towards zero-carbon building”. Thought Leadership. Climate 2020. World Green Building Council. Accessed June 14, 2023.
4“2022 U.S. billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in historical context”. Accessed June 15, 2023.
5Ibid.
6“Fact Sheet 3.3.2: Low-Slope Roofs.” Hurricane and Flood Mitigation Handbook for Public Facilities. Federal Emergency Management Agency. Accessed June 15, 2023.
7Key Findings. American Lung Association® State of the Air 2023. . Accessed June 15, 2023.
8Ibid.
9"ERA Recommends Updated Approach to Mitigate Urban Heat Island Impact". Accessed June 20, 2023.
10“United States Green (Vegetative) Roofing Market 2022-2030: Post-Pandemic Rebound in Commercial Building Construction to Drive Market Growth.” ResearchAndMarkets.com. June 20, 2022. Berkshire Hathaway. Accessed June 20, 2023.
11Ibid
As a sustainability manager, Jeff leads the SOPREMA Group in developing sustainable processes with its products, systems, and technologies. He is a degreed civil engineer with over 30 years of practical experience working to innovate products and services across many markets in the construction industry.