Hospital Green Roof Management: An Interdisciplinary Review

In 2016, the collapse of green roof at a university in Hong Kong has aroused the public concerns and given a warning signal to all buildings with similar system. It is suspected that vegetation placing on top may result in the overloading of the green roof. Similar structures are present in hospitals of different countries with hundreds and thousands of patients hospitalized in the same building. The structurally capability and legality of rooftop holding vegetation has been widely discussed in the public but little suggestions have been provided to the hospital green roof system in Hong Kong, especially relating to economic, environmental, health and safety management. Such knowledge gap in green building management had been addressed in this study. A comprehensive literature review had been performed which identified the common patterns of benefits for green roofs including the aspect of sustainable neighbourhood in reducing environmental impact, improving the wellbeing of people, and solving the problems of building energy and roof aging. Common drawback identified included the risk of structurally incapability. Findings of studies have filled the knowledge gap of hospital green building management especially on green roof system in Hong Kong, focusing on the aspects of economic, environmental, health and safety.