Award Nomination: Roof of the Year Netherlands 2018

29 January 2019

Installed with Mobilane Mobiroof sedum cassettes, the green roof installation at the Van der Valk Hotel in Heerlen in the Netherlands has been nominated in The Roof of the Year Awards 2018.

Following a fire that caused extensive damage in 2016, the Van der Valk Hotel was forced to renew and renovate parts of the hotel building and elements of its roof space. The hotel took this opportunity to increase its sustainability credentials.  Replacing the roof with the new Mobiroof has played a significant factor, along with other environmental improvements, in the building becoming almost 30% more energy-efficient than the minimum requirements under current regulations.

The Edible Garden

The new roof terrace, themed as ‘The Edible Garden’, is planted with wild strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, grape and herb plants. In addition, pear trees and sea buckthorn bushes have been planted. Ready-made ivy screens, also supplied by Mobilane and hand-woven and grown on their nurseries using their familiar Hedera ‘Woerner’ variety, have been planted in corten steel planters to bring definition to the decked terrace boundaries. This ‘green’ terrace offers a superb break-out space for around 200 guests.

The Roof itself

The roof of Mobilane Mobiroof sedum cassettes has been installed above the entrance and on the roof terrace, across an expanse of 465 m²,  by landscaping company Hans Linders from Sint Joost. The cassettes, made from recycled plastic, are easily clicked together, ready for placement directly onto the roof covering. They are filled with a blend of four to six sedums. The Mobiroof green roof option was chosen primarily for its insulating benefits and its aesthetic value. Increasingly this type of roof is also being used for its water-buffering capabilities – of growing importance in urban landscapes. The storage capacity of the low-maintenance sedum cassettes is 20 litres of water per square metre. When fully saturated, the cassettes have a maximum roof load of 58 kg per square metre. The selection of sedum plants also ensures a broad biodiversity spectrum, with the  Mobiroof cassettes filled with six different types of succulents that offer a colour-changing blend throughout the seasons.

Winners will be announced at the Roof of the Year Award ceremony which takes place in the Netherlands on 22 March 2019.