Escambia County’s Central Office Complex, located at 3363 West Park Place off of Fairfield Drive in Pensacola, features a 33,160 square foot green roof, the largest in Florida. The green roof is designed to allow a layer of vegetation to grow on the roof, which serves two main purposes. First, the growth media and vegetation provide insulation which reduces heat transfer by up to 50% when compared to an Energy Star roof, contributing to an overall 22% reduction in energy usage. Second, the green roof decreases the amount of stormwater pollutants entering waterways through evapotranspiration by plants and groundwater treatment.
The green roof has recently been found to serve another purpose for the local environment as native birds have found it to be a suitable site to nest. Earlier this year, a pair of killdear nested on the roof to raise three chicks. Killdear are a large plover that is commonly found in the Northwest Florida area and prefer to nest in sandy or gravelly substrates. The killdear have grown up and moved on and a new nesting breed has replaced them.
This week several Mourning Doves have been seen nesting on the roof, and the eggs are beginning to hatch. It has been four years since the completion of Escambia County’s LEED certified Central Office Complex, and the green roof is in full bloom this summer with plants, and now birds, that are native to Northwest Florida.
To learn more about the largest green roof in Florida, visit our website. For more information, please contact the Office of Public Information and Communications at (850) 595-3476 and follow @MyEscambia on Twitter.
