First Green Roof Professionals Announced

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) is pleased to formally announce the first wave of accredited Green Roof Professionals (GRPs). These individuals have successfully completed a multidisciplinary exam encompassing five areas of concentration, including pre-design; design; contract management; quality assurance and support; and maintenance.

GRP accreditation verifies that the individual has attained the level of interdisciplinary knowledge of best practices associated with the successful design, installation and maintenance of green roof systems, and it provides specified continuing education credits.

“We are very pleased with the caliber of the new GRPs and the fact that they come from both the 'green' arts side--i.e., the living components of a green roof--and the 'black' arts side--i.e., the nonliving components,” said Jeffrey L. Bruce, chair of GRHC. “Industry experts from both the black and the green arts have worked hard over the past six years to develop training materials and a professional exam that covers best practices across the spectrum of professionals in order to improve multidisciplinary knowledge and practice in the field.”

“Our recent North American industry survey reports the American green roof industry grew by 35 percent in 2008, so we are proud to establish the GRP accreditation that keeps pace with the growing demand for qualified professionals in this sector,” said Steven W. Peck, founder and president of GRHC. “The GRP accreditation will help to protect the industry by emphasizing best practices, while providing additional marketing and business development support to those who attain the new designation.”

For a full listing of accredited professionals, visit www.greenroofs.org.

Source: Green Roofs for Healthy Cities