They/We came from Victoria, NSW, Queensland, Japan and Singapore. Delegates represented Landscape Architects, Builders, Local & State Government, Doctors, Professors, Engineers and Environmental Scientists.
A small, but as you can see comprehensive group. We shared lectures, visited a research project at Western Sydney University (WSU), Brainstormed industry development and got our hands dirty building a green roof. In fact the attendance size made for usefull discussions and networking.
Lectures included a comprehensive understanding of green infrastructure. Sustainability and Biophilic circular cities was presented by Dr Damian Tang regarding his work in Singapore. Dr Dr Dzevo Alibegic showed the delegates examples of green roofs built around the globe and demonstrated software that can simulate water usage and outflows, cooling and insulation for reduced energy consumption for future greeroof design. Jakub Jerzyniak gave a technical lecture on waterprrofing and protection of building assets when green infrastructure is planned. Professor Ataur Rahman gave us a tour of his Greeenroof research and copies of the 2 papers recently published.
The concensus from this enthusiastic group concluded:
A need for National technical standards.
Better training, including workshops and seminars like today, should be more widely held.
More emphasis on research as that witnessed at WSU today.
Maintenance procedures and inspection reports need to be documented.
General collaboration with designers, policy makers, manufactureres and installers to develop and promote the industry.
We note that Green infrastructure is highly valued overseas, with the Singapore Government funding 50% of project values and their legislation requiring 100% replacement coverage of green infrastructure for the projects M2 footprint. Overseas Government departments provide example projects in many cities with high visibility to promote Green infrastructure.