Botetourt County, Virginia, is nestled between the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountain ranges, near Roanoke. Early in our nation’s history, as settlement expanded westward, Botetourt County played a significant role, with its borders stretching into what is today West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky. While today the County sits entirely within Virginia, when it came time to address an aging roof on its main courthouse, Botetourt County took a much larger view, thinking about the entire planet.

To help steward their resources, Botetourt County entrusted Virginia-area Garland rep Brian Foley. Brian and the Garland team helped them find a solution that minimized waste and embodied the concept that the most sustainable roof is the one you don’t have to replace.

New York University's medical center resides squarely in the middle of Lower Manhattan, one of the most dense urban centers in the world. NYU's Tisch Hospital had an out-of-warranty, aging roof that was experiencing leaks, requiring immediate attention. That alone would be a challenging project given the height of the building, the tight space for staging, and the need for a low-odor solution that would not disturb patients or staff inside the hospital. 

But add NYU's ambitious sustainability goals and the project became a truly unique challenge. Garland's NYC Territory Manager Keith DeVito partnered with NYU to develop a roofing solution that would create a leak-free environment, then added a vegetative roofing system to transform the roof to improve energy efficiency, stormwater management, and aesthetics. 

When an urban area is significantly warmer than outlying regions, the phenomenon is called an urban heat island. Urban heat islands can be caused by a confluence of factors, but in general, an abundance of paved, dark, and impermeable surfaces that trap UV radiation are common reasons, and can lead to temperatures as much as 20-25 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than surrounding readings.

While some areas of climate change my be difficult to discern, or are measured over long periods of time, the negative effect of an urban heat island is immediate, meaurable, and noticeable for everyone who lives and works in an area. The heat is even more oppressive for children. So when Chelksea Schools had the opportunity to fight back against the urban heat island in their neighborhood, they jumped at the chance.