by Brianna Crandall — April 20, 2015—Nashville Sounds Minor League Baseball fans will find themselves under a LiveRoof living roof system when they step up to the new concession area for hotdogs and peanuts when the new First Tennessee Park opens on April 17.
The green roof is one feature that helped the park win LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building program. Other features include a new greenway, water and energy efficiency, and the repurposing of an underused site that now links downtown to thriving neighborhoods to the north.
The First Tennessee Park is part of a mixed-use development in the Sulphur Dell area — once the home to the first professional baseball team in Nashville, the Elite Giants, and several minor league teams. As part of the city’s newest venue, Mayor Karl Dean wanted to showcase the best of current sustainability infrastructure. A new greenway will offer easy pedestrian access and enhance the ballpark’s park-like feel.
Southeast Green Roofs of Fairview delivered the LiveRoof hybrid green roof system, which will not be accessible to ballpark fans and guests but will be visible. Landscape Architect Bram Barth, of Lose & Associates, designed the project.
The LiveRoof planted roof will contain primarily drought-tolerant and hardy sedum, a type of low-growing succulent. Baker Roofing installed the 1500-square-foot green roof, along with 220 square feet of natural-colored pavers to serve as a maintenance path. A patented, subterranean modular system unites the soil and plants, creating a naturally beautiful meadow-like aesthetic.
LiveRoof reminds that green roofs provide aesthetic, environmental, social and financial benefits, including better stormwater management, longer roof life, energy conservation, interior noise reduction, urban heat island effect mitigation, improved air quality, enhanced aesthetics, a reduction in operating costs, an increase in building values, and an increase in return on investment (ROI), as well as enhanced public relations and conservation of municipal septic systems.
