Introduction

A Video Introduction to the GRP Accreditation from Green Roofs for Healthy Cities on Vimeo.

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities’ members have been committed to the development of a Professional Accreditation Program since their first successful conference in Chicago in 2003 and the subsequent development and delivery of its first training course (Green Roof Design 101) in the spring of 2004.

Since our first course was completed, three subsequent courses, Green Roof Design and Implementation 201, Green Roof Waterproofing and Drainage 301, and Green Roof Plants and Growing Media 401 have been developed by multidisciplinary committees of green roof experts drawn from fields such as civil and structural engineering, architecture, horticulture, roofing and waterproofing, and landscape architecture. These four courses are currently being offered in cities across North America. Click here for course dates and locations.

The GRP training, especially when combined with a thourough review of the additional written materials, provided a fully rounded and in-depth understanding of why Green Roofs are needed, how they work, why they work, and industry best practices to ensure they work. Over the course of the training I observed that there were many trainee's who were experts in some area of "roofing" or of "plants", but few who had crossover expertise. The training - and the studying necessary to pass the GRP certification - provided a way to bridge that gap. The certification itself is becoming increasingly significant in that it is recognized by people involved with LEED and other new developments as ensuring some basic degree of knowledge about a system that still is not fully understood by most developers/owners.

Accreditation Objectives

The Green Roof Professional (GRP) designation is not a panacea for all of the challenges facing this rapidly emerging industry. It does not, and cannot, for example, provide any guarantee of professional competency, which is the responsibility of associations that provide licensure for professionals such as engineers and architects.

Successful green roofs require a combination of knowledge and expertise in the so-called ‘black arts’ and ‘green arts’. The ‘black arts’ focus on the critical, non-living elements of a green roof assembly such as water proofing, structural engineering and project management, while the ‘green arts’ deal with the living architectural components such as water management, growing media, plants and maintenance. Very few industry professionals currently have the knowledge and expertise that encompass all of these disciplines.

Green Roof Professionals (GRPs) will be well versed in both the ‘black’ and the ‘green’ arts in order to gain this new professional distinction of green building expertise. The Green Roof Professional (GRP) accreditation, and professional courses that support it, will however, provide a number of important benefits that are key to the long-term health and growth of the green roof industry. These include: