Bureau of Watershed Protection
Atlanta City Hall Green Roof

In 2003, the City of Atlanta built the first municipal greenroof in the South on the roof of the City Hall Annex on Trinity Street. The planning for the roof was begun two years earlier as part of the Department of Watershed Management and Mayor Shirley Franklin’s environmental vision for Atlanta.
The greenroof is a pilot program intended to raise awareness of greenroofs and demonstrate the possibilities of incorporating them into Atlanta’s urban landscape. The current greenroof is just the first phase of what will ultimately be a 10,000 square foot greenroof covering the rest of the building’s roof.

• Size: just under 3,500 square feet
• Completed December 12, 2003
• Weight of all materials added: 227,770 lbs
• Structural capacity of existing roof: 560,000 lbs
• Soil depth: 3" to 10" of ‘Permatill’ based planting media (70 cubic yards, total)
• Nearly 300 concrete pavers used
• More than 2,800 total plants of 31 different species used, mainly sedums and delsperma with some perennials, cacti and herbs.
• Demolition and waterproofing took six weeks; Installation of drainage layer, soil mix, pavers and planting took 10 days

Site before construction	Site after construction
Greenroof in spring
Greenroof in summer

Pics: plans, before/after, just after planting, a couple years later, full bloom, profile (from J Drain)

Materials and labor for the Atlanta City Hall greenroof generously donated by Itsaul Natural, LLC; Saul Nurseries; JDR Enterprises; Moon & Associates; Unique Environmental Concepts; Flintstone Paver Installations, USA; Sims Stone Concrete Products

Greenroof main page
Designing and Building a Greenroof
View a short slideshow on the construction of the City Hall Greenroof (Powerpoint Presentation)
City Hall Greenroof plant list (coming soon)


| BWP homepage|