Going green is a top priority

Garland Co. makes roofs where plants, flowers grow

The Plain Dealer
April 10, 2007
Peter Krouse


Plain Dealer Reporter

The Garland Co. has made roofs for nearly a century, but lately a few of them have gone to seed.

For about twice the price of a traditional commercial roof, Garland will provide a system that includes a half-foot of soil and a variety of hearty, flowering plants.

It`s called a green roof, and Cleveland-based Garland has been at the forefront of the movement in the United States over the past decade.

Since the late 1990s, the company has sold 10 to 15 green roofs each year, supplying them to progressive-minded governments and others in regions like the Pacific Northwest, New York City and especially Chicago, where Mayor Richard M. Daley has been an enthusiastic supporter.

Garland also put a green roof on a Giant Eagle grocery store in Pittsburgh, as well as on the Cleveland Environmental Center, which is a former bank branch and antiques store on the West Side.

While they represent a very small percentage of Garland`s sales, green roofs will eventually represent a larger share of the company`s business, said Brian Lambert, director of products and systems at Garland.

"I think the market is still in its infancy," he said.

Typically, the technology is far more common in Europe, particularly in Germany, where there are billions of square feet of green roofs, said Steven Peck, president of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities-North America Inc., a Toronto-based group that includes Garland as one of its founding members.

It was through a partner in Germany that Lambert learned about the technology before going about his own research.

"He is like a visionary guy," Peck said of Lambert. "He got it a long time ago."

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© 2007 The Plain Dealer