Assessing Practice and Criteria for Green Roof Maintenance on High-rise Residential Building in Malaysia

Abstract

Urbanisation inevitably shows a positive sign in increasing the economic reputation of a country. Nevertheless, it has led to several problems including the deficit in green spaces and destruction of the natural environment, therefore green building is introduced as an alternative to overcome crucial environmental issues. Numerous approaches were also adopted to reduce other environmental issues such as urban heat island, air pollution and lack of green spaces. One of the sustainable approaches that help to minimise the environmental problems is by using the means of vegetation or plant material on rooftops or also known as the green roof. The implementation of the green roof on top of buildings is becoming a trend in the urban cities as it provides numerous benefits to the green development. The green roof is also part of criteria in green building and among the benefits, implementing green roofs will reduce heat flux, optimise energy efficiency and improve stormwater management. However, despite the benefits, enhancement on the green roof installation and maintenance consideration are two factors which are still largely unexplored as the main significant factor in the viability of the green roof installation. Hence, this paper is aimed to determine the vital criteria of maintenance and its ranking towards the establishment of best practice maintenance for the green roof, by focusing on high-rise residential. Questionnaires were distributed by email and through an online survey to 30 maintenance managers of green roof of high-rise residential in Kuala Lumpur and the samples are drawn by using purposive sampling technique. The results showed that the most significant maintenance criteria of the green roof are drainage, followed by waterproofing, irrigation, water retention, and roof slab. The outcome of this study has provided a significant contribution to the current maintenance practice of green roof by prioritising the criteria of maintenance and key address of green roof, where it may help to standardise the maintenance practice of the green roof in the tropical climate of Malaysia.

Guidelines to reduce the effects of urban heat in a changing climate: Green infrastructures and design measures

“…Growing vegetation on rooftops as a way to increase the urban green cover, thus assisting in ambient cooling, controlling the flux of incoming radiation and helping in rainwater harvesting (Coma et al, 2016;Getter & Rowe, 2006;Gößner et al, 2021;Grant, 2006;Imam & Banerjee, 2017;Jim & Tsang, 2011;Lee & Jim, 2019;Saharuddin et al, 2019;Simmons et al, 2008;Speak et al, 2013).…”

Integration of Safety Aspects in the Maintenance Work of a Living Wall: An Overview of Practice and Challenges

“…Improper execution of maintenance tasks on a living wall can cause failure on one or more of the living wall components, taking a toll on the vegetation. Detail planning is also needed for maintenance tasks because of the various living wall components that would require extra maintenance attention and strategy (Saharuddin et al, 2019). Chew and Conejos (2016) indicate that maintaining living wall usually follow standard building maintenance practice due to the absence of industry standards in this technical system.…”

“…The maintenance personnel imported from other developing countries have a poor attitude and are influenced by their own culture (Mahalingam & Levitt, 2007). A complex maintenance task such as a living wall would require specific knowledge that unskilled workers from developing countries may not possess (Saharuddin et al, 2019), which can affect their ability to identify, understand, and avoid the risks associated with specific maintaining tasks (Vitharana et al, 2015). Information on safety signboards can also be misunderstood (Tam et al, 2010).…”

“…The amount of urban green space area in Kuala Lumpur, for example, has a decline of 59.4% in 2012 (a reduction from 24,222 hectares to 14,386 hectares) (Yusof, 2012). Reduction of the city's greenery spaces brings various environmental issues, including increased urban heat island and air pollution (Saharuddin et al, 2019).…”

“…However, the maintenance work of the living wall is also complicated because of the various components to keep the vegetation alive and healthy. Apart from the irrigation system, support structure, and vegetation, the maintenance team also needs to cater for issues regarding water retention, soil substrate, safety, root, pest and disease control, debris removal, pruning, and weed control (Saharuddin et al, 2019). Improper maintenance can affect living wall functionality.…”