1425 K Street Greenroof

The largest greenroof downtown and the first on a commercially-owned building in the District was installed on our building at 1425 K Street, NW in June 2004.

The 3500 square feet project, the largest in Washington, DC at the time, serves as a high quality and visible research and demonstration project for a cost effective and proven green technology that has been slow to be adopted in the District.

The 1425 K Street Greenroof is the result of a partnership between Casey Trees & DC Greenworks, Covenant House – and the building owner and property manager, Blake Real Estate. The project is funded by grants from the DC Department of Health and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

A 1000 square foot section of roof that was not converted to plants will serve as a control site to demonstrate the differences between the two roofing approaches. Temperature and rainfall monitors generate data that is available online.

One goal of this project in the heart of the downtown business district is to encourage other commercial owners to replace conventional roofs with greenroofs when their existing roofs need replacement. With the life of a commercial roof typically just 20-30 years, and most commercial roofs requiring no structural changes to accommodate a greenroof, this is one opportunity to make significant environmental improvements in areas where extensive tree planting is not feasible.  

For more information, please contact Heather Whitlow at hwhitlow@caseytrees.org.

NEWS

Casey Trees / Limno-Tech research quantifies the water and air quality benefits provided by green roofs
·DC Green Roof Vision Abstract >>
·DC Green Roof Vision Full Report >>

MORE INFORMATION 

Greenroof Tours

1425 K Street GREENROOF TOURS
The new contact for greenroof tours on our building at 1425 K Street, NW is Kelliann Whitley, the property manager for Blake Real Estate. Contact Kelliann at 202.842.3814 or kwhitley@blakereal.com.

For more information on greenroofs, visit our Greenroof section.

Greenroof information kit>>
Greenroof installation process>> Greenroof layout >>
Benefits of greenroofs >>
Greenroof opportunity >>
Greenroof costs >>
Greenroof sponsors >>
Press release >>

Benefits of greenroofs
Next to trees, greenroofs are the best management practice to improve air and water quality in cities. 

Greenroofs came to Washington
Green Roofs for Healthy Cities held its third annual conference, awards and tradeshow in May 2005 in Washington, DC. A highlight of the conference included a new study by Casey Trees and tours of DC area greenroofs.

Greenroofs
- reduce and clean storm water runoff
- cool the air
- improve air quality
- provide insulation for energy conservation,
- last longer than conventional asphalt or ballast rock roofs.

An analysis by Casey Trees of the downtown commercial core in Washington, DC concluded that if 80% of qualifying rooftop areas was converted to greenroofs, 56% of rainfall in the area would be absorbed by or slowly percolated through the greenroof soil. This would make a significant contribution toward reducing the District's combined sewer overflow (CSO) problem.