Photo Cred - Atelier Tautem for Owen Rose

Saint-Laurent wants green roofs, and they could have them, if Quebec's Régie du bâtiment would hurry up and approve their construction. Mayor of Saint-Laurent Alan De Sousa fears that if the Régie du bâtiment takes any longer to publish its official guidelines on green roofs, their inclusion in the borough's newest houses will not occur.

Green roofs are basically rooftop gardens with their own drainage system, that have many benefits for the building at city at-large, such as moderating the city's heat, improving air quality, insulating heat within a building (great for winter), add to the city's greenspace, and even reduce the noise emitted from a building.

Right now, certain Montreal buildings have green roofs, but installing them into new buildings isn't easy, and is getting harder, as Owen Rose, a member of Montreal's Urban Ecology Centre told CBC. As it stands, if builders want to include a green roof in Quebec, they have to wait on the Régie du bâtiment's six month approval process, or wait on their official guidelines to be released so they can follow the outlined rules.

Most urban developers won't want to go through the hassle of waiting on the Régie du bâtiment, and without any official guidelines, most developers will likely just go ahead and not include green roofs rather than halt construction, as Rose and De Sousa fear will happen in Saint-Laurent.

Hopefully the Régie du bâtiment's guidelines on green roofs is released sooner rather than later. Not only will Saint-Laurent's new Bois-Franc housing units benefit, but architects and developers throughout the city will then be able to include green roofs in all future projects.

For more check out Owen Rose's website here.

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