FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

QUESTIONS FOR RESIDENTS OF PARTICIPATING CORPORATION HOUSES

Within RESILIO, extensive research is being conducted, including the role of residents and how they can be involved. The tenants of the buildings where a blue-green roof will be realized will be informed by their housing association.

For comments or questions regarding the blue-green roof, please contact your housing association. They can also inform you about when the roof will be realized, and what you might notice during the construction.

As a general rule, roofs of the housing corporations are not publicly accessible. However, if the roof is accessible for the public, the housing corporation will inform you.

No, the rent for the rental properties involved in RESILIO remains the same.

The water collected by the blue-green roof is used to feed the plants on the roof. In the project we will further investigate in what other ways we can use the water.

QUESTIONS FOR PRIVATE ROOF OWNERS

Private homeowners can apply for a subsidy for a blue-green roof. This subsidy and its conditions will be announced in March 2020. If you are a tenant, you can ask your landlord what the possibilities are.

Information about the costs of construction will become available when the grant conditions are announced at the beginning of 2020. Keep an eye on the website of the Municipality of Amsterdam.

The construction takes about two to five days, depending on the state of the current roof and the roof size.

The current roof covering will be improved. Then, a buffer layer will be applied and a smart controllable valve will be installed. The substrate will be put in place; this is the soil on which the plants grow. Finally, the vegetation will be planted.

The water collected by the blue-green roof is used to feed the plants on the roof. In the project we will further investigate in what other ways we can use the water.

QUESTIONS ABOUT SMART BLUE-GREEN ROOFS

As result of climate change, it rains more often and harder in the city, as well as getting hotter. Because there is a lot of stone and asphalt in the city, we often experience flooding and heat. We use the unused space to construct smart blue-green roofs. The roofs collect rainwater, provide space for nature and cool the environment.

Excess rainwater is stored underneath the green layer of plants on the roof. This makes sure that the plants will always have enough water. The water can be discharged through a “smart valve”. This smart valve responds to weather change and opens and closes automatically at the right times. This is useful if, for example, a lot of rain falls. Look for more information on this page.

The blue-green roofs are linked to accurate weather forecasts to retain or discharge the rainwater. The valves on the roofs are controlled from a central point to open or close. This is regulated by Waternet, the water manager company of Amsterdam. The roofs are also connected to all kinds of sensors. For example, in the groundwater and the sewage system, so that we know when it is a good time to discharge the rainwater. By connecting the roofs with each other we can collect data: how much rainwater is collected in the various neighbourhoods, are there differences between them and how can we use that information? Look for more information on this page.

Blue-green roofs can absorb more rainwater than normal green roofs and so they can evaporate for longer during heat and drought. This keeps the houses and the neighbourhood cooler. Also, more variety of plants are able to grow on the roof, which increases biodiversity.

Blue-green roofs have been around for a long time. The first blue-green roofs in Amsterdam are located on the Zuidas and on the Marineterrein. The system that we apply to the roofs in RESILIO has been extensively researched. It has been scientifically proven that a blue-green roof works. No disadvantages are known. A point for attention is that blue-green roofs are slightly heavier than normal green roofs. The roof must be able to support this, which can be determined with a roof construction calculation.

The construction takes about two to five days, depending on the state of the current roof and the roof size.

The current roof covering will be improved. Then, a buffer layer will be applied and a smart controllable valve will be installed. The substrate will be put in place; this is the soil on which the plants grow. Finally, the vegetation will be planted.

It is possible to combine a blue-green roof with solar panels. A blue-green roof has a cooling effect which means the solar panels produce higher energy yield.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RESILIO PROJECT

The roofs will be realized in five Amsterdam neighbourhoods: Kattenburg, Oosterpark, Indische Buurt, Slotermeer and Rivierenbuurt. These neighborhoods have been selected because they have a high risk of flooding and damage during heavy rainfall. Moreover, the roofs of housing corporations that participate in these neighbourhoods are in need of replacement.

No, the RESILIO project only focuses on Amsterdam. The results and knowledge of the project are shared on a European level. In this way we hope that in other European cities and countries blue-green roofs will also be used to combat flooding and heat caused by climate change.

Housing corporations De Key, Stadgenoot and de Alliantie have provided 8.000 m2 of roof area that will be transformed in the neighbourhoods mentioned above. In 2020 there will be a subsidy for homeowners who want to construct a blue-green roof themselves. In this way another 2.000 m2 of blue-green roofs can be added.

After the project, the blue-green roofs will be  maintained by the housing associations for a minimum of 5 years. The intention is that the blue-green roofs will be permanent and will also be realized on many more roofs in the city. In the RESILIO project we investigate what the best way is to succeed in this.

RESILIO is a collaboration between the Municipality of Amsterdam, Waternet, MetroPolder Company, Rooftop Revolution, HvA, VU, Stadgenoot, de Alliantie, De Key and Consolidated.

The project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Urban Innovative Actions Initiative. The UIA program grants subsidies for innovative pilot projects on different themes. The consortium has received a subsidy of € 4.8 million as an innovative project in the field of climate adaptation. 80 percent of the costs are paid from the UIA subsidy. Each partner provides the remaining 20 percent of the investment.

The project started on 1st of November 2018 and ends on the 31st of October 2021.

RESILIO is an acronym for ‘Resilience nEtwork of Smart Innovative cLImate-adapative rOoftops’. The core of this complicated name is “resilience”. And that’s what it’s all about: smart blue-green roofs that form a buffer for intense rainfall or prolonged drought.

Currently, a study is being done on which roofs of the housing corporations that participate in the RESILIO project a combination of yellow (solar panels) and blue-green can be carried out.