During a workshop organised by the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (MCCAA) as part of the LifemedGreenRoof Project, Minister for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties Helena Dalli launched a process for the drafting of Maltese standards for green roof construction.

In her opening address, Minister Dalli said that the participation of MCCAA in this EU funded project shows its commitment in promoting innovative products and services.

"Through its standardisation process, it will be contributing in building confidence among consumers and suppliers of innovative products such as these Green Roofs, by capturing the results coming out of research projects and putting them into a consensus based standard that give practical guidance any user can access when considering installing a green roof," emphasised Dr Dalli.

Minister Dalli remarked how civil society stands to gain through the use of standards including reduced costs and waste, improved efficiency and performance, and facilitation of fair trading when applying Maltese standards as consumers and traders can follow the best practices that standards provide.

As there are no previous examples of green roofs in Malta, the LifeMedGreenRoof project set out to create a baseline study on the basic requirements of green roof construction within the local context. In fact, to date, it has successfully identified two growing media and over 15 species of plants capable of growing in the harsh roof environment.

A demonstration green roof garden located on the roof of the Faculty for the Built Environment has been set up as part of the project, which will also be open to the public. Its purpose is to give a better and practical picture of what a green roof is, what plants can be cultivated in different substrate depths and how they function to avoid problems such as leaks.

Green roofs are an important tool to mitigate problems in urban areas. Such problems include air pollution, flooding and high ambient temperatures to mention but a few. These problems have a negative effect on human health both physically and psychologically.

The public workshop was also addressed by the Dean of the Faculty for the Built Environment Prof. Alex Torpiano and by Eng. Francis Farrugia from MCCAA. It has brought together stakeholders from different professions and specialisations to discuss issues which are relevant to the successful implementation of green roofs in the local context.

Local and foreign speakers who participated include the project partners who for the past two years have studied aspects of green roofs in both Northern Italy and Malta.

This project, which comes to an end in July 2017 is being coordinated by the Faculty for the Built Environment of the University of Malta in collaboration with the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (MCCAA), Fondazione Minoprio (FM) and Minoprio Analisi e Certificazioni (MAC) being local and foreign beneficiaries.

The LifeMedgreenRoof Project is partially funded by LIFE+ which is the EU's financial instrument supporting environmental and nature conservation project throughout the EU.

Further information can be accessed on www.lifemedgreenroof.org

Photograph: DOI/Omar Camilleri

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