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City focuses on adaptive
re-use of older buildings Green roof advocates emphasize the environmental benefits of green roof technology including stormwater management, improving energy efficiency within buildings, cutting air and water pollution and cooling the urban heat island. Green roofs differ from rooftop gardens in that they are an extension of the actual roof with special root repelling membranes, a drainage system and a lightweight growing medium. "We don't have many green roofs but we already have a lot of sites with green space in our downtown area so this is not a big issue for us," Kevin says. He points to the green swaths of land fronting Water Street in front of the county building and fronting George Street across from city hall. "We have green belts throughout the city," he says. Green roofs can absorb rainwater but other roofs generally function to hold stormwater before releasing it into the drainage system, Kevin says. While the focus in Peterborough is not on green roofs, there is a focus on the adaptive re-use of older buildings, Kevin says. "The city has an incredible inventory of older buildings for which new uses are being found," he says. Most of those uses are for the development of residential units. The former Westclox Company building on Hunter Street East, is now Time Square, an apartment complex. A former woollen mill on McDonnel Street, once part of Sir Sandford Fleming College, is being developed for affordable housing. The domed former Normal School and later Kawartha Pine Ridge Board of Education headquarters on Benson Avenue is slated to become a residential-commercial complex. There are also plans for converting Central
School in the city's core and St. Peter's Elementary School on
Reid Street into residential complexes.
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Peaceful Communities is reaching more people! The Grassroots Review |
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