Food company Hilcona has planted vegetation on the flat roof of its first new building in Schaan. The 1,200 sqm meadow offers protection against heavy rain and overheating. The other new buildings will also be planted with living roofs.

Hilcona has planted a 1,200 sqm living roof on the first new building to be completed in Schaan. All buildings in the five-year plant expansion will be bedded in an “ecologically valuable” way, as the company reported in a press release. “This green space offers better runoff management than concrete roofs, relieving the drainage systems and offering key protection against heavy rainfall,” explains the Head of Technical Service, Peter Ritzer.

As Hilcona elaborated, living roofs are able to retain water and reduce runoff. In constructing the new company building, particular attention was paid to sealing off as little as possible. An additional environmental benefit is the ability to sequester carbon as well as water and air purification. Water normally flows onto sealed surfaces such as roofs and tarred or concrete surfaces, and then directly into the drainage system and onto open ground. This can cause high water and flooding. Living roofs help to prevent this process.

They also heat up less than gravel roofs, have a longer lifetime and are easy to maintain. “With our living roof we want to give as much back to nature as we can,” said Ritzer.

Back to overview