Toronto mandates green roofs

Toronto Green roofs will be required on new buildings in Toronto starting next year after the city council Tuesday overwhelmingly adopted the most stringent and comprehensive green-roof rules of any city in North America. The new rules consist of a green-roof construction standard and a mandatory requirement for green roofs on all classes of new buildings.

“Toronto's by-law provides a new opportunity to strengthen the emerging practice of integrated green building design," said Steven W. Peck, president of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, Toronto, which supported the measure. "The by-law breaks new ground on how to structure a mandatory green-roof requirement and the construction standard also contains important best practices that may prove to be a model for other cities.”

The rules are effective for new residential buildings constructed after Jan. 31, 2010, and for industrial and commercial buildings constructed after Jan. 31, 2011.