St. Elizabeth Hospital Goes Green with Living Roof | The Boldt Company

Just as the growing season ends in Wisconsin, green plants will be springing to life on the roof of St. Elizabeth Hospital in Appleton. The hospital will install a green roof in late August as part of the campus revitalization project—a roof designed to promote healing as well as environmental responsibility.

The roof is on top of the new St. Elizabeth Hospital Cancer Center and will be visible to patients receiving cancer treatment or staying in the hospital. In addition to aesthetic benefits, the roof will contribute to energy savings for the building by reducing cooling costs in the summer. This is the second green roof installed at St. Elizabeth Hospital. In 2009, a green roof was installed as part of the Heart, Lung and Vascular Center project.

"We put our patients at the center of everything we do, and in addition to being environmentally friendly, our green roofs actually aid in the healing process," said Gary Kusnierz, vice president of performance excellence, Affinity Health System. "We are constantly looking for ways to provide personalized care to our patients and giving them the most soothing and healing environment possible is just one way we deliver on our promise."

Additional benefits of a green roof are:

• Green roofs decrease the effects of urban heat island by cooling the air, slowing air movement and acting as a substrate for pollution to settle out and detoxify
• They are acoustic insulators
• Green roofs reduce storm water run off

The green roof will accommodate five different types of plantings arranged in a complex pattern which will provide color throughout the seasons. Construction crews from The Boldt Company　built the roof to hold the weight of the plantings, the medium in which they’re planted and water. The system weighs approximately 27-29 lbs./sq. ft. when fully vegetated and saturated with water. Most roofs in Wisconsin are designed to carry a snow load of 34 lbs./sq. ft. and this structure will hold the weight of the living roof plus the snow.

"Normally in Wisconsin we design roofs to handle the weight of snow," said Todd Paider, project manager from The Boldt Company. "In this case, we over-designed the roof with a heavier and larger structural steel system and installed a tougher roof membrane."

The roof is being installed by LiveRoof, the same company Boldt worked with to install the green roof on Lawrence University’s Warch Center. The roof will use a system of moveable trays of plants, mostly succulent, water-holding plants like sedums, alliums, grasses and decorative garlic. The trays contain a proprietary mix of organic and inorganic material designed to retain water rather than using conventional potting soils which would be heavier.

When building the system, Boldt teams paid special attention to future safety concerns. "Maintenance crews will be walking on the roof to water the plants, so we made sure it will be safe for traffic and has easy access to hoses and water faucets—something not normally found on a roof," Paider said.

The green roof installation is part of a multiple phased construction project which will significantly update the St. Elizabeth Hospital campus. Renovations began in 2009 and this phase involving the Cancer Center, Breast Center, central plant and emergency department is scheduled for completion in 2012.

### 

ABOUT THE BOLDT COMPANY www.boldt.com

 The Boldt Company, headquartered in Wisconsin, has 12 offices throughout the United States and is one of the leading sustainable construction services firms in the country. The firm provides professional construction services to customers in a variety of power, industrial, education, healthcare, commercial and renewable energy markets nationwide. The firm has been recognized as one of the safest companies in America.
 

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Mary Schmidt
Phone: 920-284-7165
Email: mkschmidt@centurytel.net
OR
Patrick Casey
Phone: 920-225-6159
Email: Patrick.Casey@Boldt.com