Following the global trends for sustainable landscape, Burgas is the pioneer city in Bulgaria initiating the installation of green roofs on the city’s bus stops network. Due to the low weight structure capacity of the existing bus stops, the need of a specially developed system for extensive green roofs and a specialized and experienced contractor, The Municipality of Burgas assigned this job to VJF Engineering.

The formation of so-called “Heat islands”, arising due to the urbanization, the lack of high trees in public areas and the air pollution with dust particles, created more and more prerequisites to search for innovations through green construction. These “Heat Islands” are formed in many cities not only in Bulgaria and in order to solve this problem, the local Municipality initiated the creation of “Green Hats”, which will be installed on all public bus stops to ensure the coolness of city’s residents and to improve the air quality and biodiversity.

As an expert in construction of green roofs, VJF has developed and provided a special solution for the public bus stops, which conform the conditions for extensive maintenance and resistance to strong winds and intense sunshine. The technical solution represents the use of innovative system for extensive green roofs, which provide an opportunity to install the roof gardens on low profile and low load capacity structures.

GreenSky is an innovative system for green roofs, including following components:

• Water retaining non-woven geotextile;
• Drainage bio membrane – Recycled PE rigid load tolerant drainage, special surface with retention board;
• High quality, lightweight peat substrate with volcanic lava, treated against weeds;
• Sedum blanket: Planting Mix: 8-12 Sedum Species specifically chosen for green roof applications. Vegetation coverage at installation: Min. 90%;
• Perforated aluminum drainage profile for separating gutters of the soil;
• Irrigation system providing waterring during the hot summer periods.

The innovative lightweight materials reduce the overall weight of the system.

Benefits of VJF extensive green roof system:

• Extremely low height: 80mm;
• Dry weight: 25kg/sq.m.;
• Saturated weight: 45kg/sq.m.;
• Control maintenance 1-2 times a year;
• Easy and fast installation.

Benefits of VJF extensive green roof system in urban areas:

• Minimum maintenance and watering compared to regular green roof systems;
• The high quality and time-resistant materials, guarantee the long life of the system;
• Can be installed on all type of roof structures, because of low weight construction;
• Improve air quality and reduce harmful CO2 emissions.