An Innovative Approach to Securing Green Roof Maintenance in Shiraz
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Combination of extensive and intensive green roof. Source: Aslan Janoubi
Shiraz is an ancient city of almost two million people located in southwestern Iran. It has been an important trade center for several thousand years and enjoys a moderate climate. The City of Shiraz has been developing rapidly and the population is in need of additional green space. Shiraz is already a city of gardens. Many large and small-scale gardens are located in the inner city and around it. Studying the 30-years of urbanization and growing population in Shiraz, many of the original gardens have since been destroyed - turned into concrete and steel. Because of this destructive precedent and the depreciation of greenery, the city council decided to design and implement a policy to compensate for the disappearing greenery and gardens that happened during years of urbanization.
In 2013 the Shiraz City Council adopted a mandate for green roofs policy. The policy provides an incentive to developers. Developers can get 1 square meter of extra density in their buildings, if they build 1 square meter of intensive green roofs, or 2 square meters of semi intensive roofs, or 3 square meters of extensive roofs.
Maintenance Guarantee Program
Shiraz City Council also mandated a guarantee program for ensuring that green roof maintenance is carried out during the first five years of a project. Developers must put aside funds to guarantee that maintenance is implemented and every year the municipality inspects the green roof to make sure the developer complies with the program. By this instrumental policy, the city guarantees the implementation of green roofs if the developer uses the density bonus provided.
Due to the importance of maintaining green roofs and preventing their loss according to the following conditions, the municipality should act on a trial basis to guarantee green roofs in the city of Shiraz. Here are the details of the policy:
A: The municipality should open a separate bank account called Green Roof Cash Register "BAMSABZ" and the applicant, at the end of construction period and before the occupancy permit, must deposit the amount of 100.000 Rials (approximately $4 USD at that time) per square meter (approximately 10 square feet) of green space on the roof to the aforementioned account for a period of five years. This amount, which will be subject to gain according to the conventional bank interest, will be used to guarantee the preservation and maintenance of the green roof for five years.
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This amount will be returned to the Applicant after five years from occupancy permit, if the applicant has maintained the green roof properly. It should be noted that after the end of each year from the date of occupancy, the municipality will visit the subject roof based on the request of the owner/applicant, and if it is well maintained, 20 percent of the deposit returned to the owner plus the interest earned up to that time.
This deposit guarantee will be fully returned if the applicant has maintained the green roof properly after five years in addition to its applied bank interest. Any services performed by the municipality to preserve and maintain the green roof during the Guarantee Period must be deducted from the guarantee amount at the end of the five-year guarantee period. An invoice will be presented to the applicant.
B: If the green roof applicant, developer, transfers the property, the aforementioned guarantee and deposit obligations will be transferred to the name of the new owner. If the green roof is well maintained, the new owner will receive the deposit after five years from the date of occupancy. It is also necessary that at the time of transferring the property title to the new owner, all rights and responsibilities also transfer to him/her.
C: All of the terms and conditions of this guarantee program and its amount should be inserted in the building permits, and at the time of transferring the property or at any time necessary, the municipality should respond to any inquiries about the case such as the amount and period left to the guarantee period.
D: A separate contract should be signed between the municipality and the applicant regarding the guarantee deposit and the method of withdrawal.
E: The applicant is obliged to sign a notarized commitment to guarantee good maintenance during the operation of the green roof.
Maintenance of green roof twice a week by professional, a 3-year green roof project in northern part of Shiraz. Residents often take over the maintenance of their green roofs after five years. Source: Aslan Janoubi
F: If an applicant obtains a green roof permit and uses incentives for this matter, but does not implement it, the building permit should be suspended or a fine based on five times the cost of incentives should be paid before the occupancy permit. But if the applicant has not used the incentives and not implemented the green roof, the occupancy permit should be issued.
Maintenance Guarantee Violations
The amount of the fine for not implementing the green roof as agreed upon is as follows:
A: If the Applicant of the green roof has used incentives (including obtaining extra density, etc.), the applicant must pay a fine equal to five times of the cost of excess incentive density when applying for occupancy permit. Otherwise, the municipality should refer the matter to the committee of justice (a special justice committee located at the city for building breach of permit), developer secure the payments for maintenance cost.
B: According to the importance of well implementation of the green roof and constructing the exact details of approved design, the applicant of the green roof is obliged to strictly build and supervise it and also filling out the supervisors forms at the times specified in the approved chart and if the supervision of supervisors is not carried out in the stipulated time, it will be illegal for the municipality to issue the green roof certificate and occupancy permit.
C: If the green roof design needs to be changed at the time of implementation, an amendment should be prepared and the area of the green space of the approved design should be preserved.
Developers must post five years worth of funds to cover maintenance of green roofs built with the benefit of density bonuses provided by the City of Shiraz. Source: Aslan Jonoubi.
Conclusion
Given the importance of maintaining green roofs, particularly during the first five years of their establishment, this policy has been effective and can be adopted or adapted by other cities around the world. Because of this policy, almost 90 percent of the green roofs designed and built by developers through the density bonus incentive program, are in good condition right now, and the new building habitants say they can not live without them. One of the valuable lessons gained from this successful policy was that the most important period for maintaining and preserving the green roofs is the first five years in which the plants are vulnerable. We have also found that when the new residents get used to the green roofs, they preserve and maintain the green roof themselves because they value them.
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Aslan Janoubi is an architect who lives in Shiraz and is a member of the board of directors of the World Green Infrastructure Network. He spearheaded the development of the green roof policy in Shiraz.
