{"id":835561,"date":"2026-05-31T23:21:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T23:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/835561\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T23:21:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T23:21:15","slug":"pecos-green-roof-tours-offer-a-new-view-of-green-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/835561\/","title":{"rendered":"PECO\u2019s green roof tours offer a new view of green infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Steve Jeffries<\/p>\n

Philadelphia has been called Garden City or America’s Garden Capital, thanks to the wealth of gardens in and around the area. While residents and visitors can easily take in and appreciate many green spaces, some of the city\u2019s most remarkable gardens aren\u2019t found in parks or along tree-lined streets<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

High above Market Street, atop the ninth floor of PECO\u2019s headquarters, sits one of the city’s most unexpected urban oases \u2014 a hidden rooftop garden.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While it can not be seen from the ground, PECO, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society<\/a> (PHS), leads public tours onto its green roof. The tour is included in the range of events under the PHS Garden Season, which launched in early May.<\/p>\n

Guina Hammond, a program manager with PHS, has been leading tours of PECO’s green roof for the past decade. Hammond said roofs can offer a whole other level of green infrastructure opportunity that is not often considered.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look over all the rooftops in South Philly, you see this whole landscape of possibility,\u201d said Hammond.<\/p>\n

The PECO green roof<\/a> is one of the largest to be built on a pre-existing structure, according to company officials. When the company needed to replace its existing roof, PECO chose to invest in a green roof system instead. Construction of the roof began in 2008 and concluded the following year.<\/p>\n

Weathering the elements\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The roof’s plants were specifically chosen to be able to survive and thrive on the often harsh conditions on the 8th-floor roof. Unsheltered from the elements, the species chosen needed to be resilient to extreme cold, heat, precipitation, and Philadelphia\u2019s strong winds.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can feel how the wind scours this building and just rips around the corner,\u201d said Hammond, speaking over the howling wind as she led a tour group onto the roof.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Plants like sedum were selected for their wide-spreading, shallow roots, which better anchor into the soil. This also allows the soil layer to be shallow, reducing the overall roof weight. Species native to the area were also prioritized to provide habitat for pollinators.\u00a0<\/p>\n

John and Danielle O\u2019Brian from Conshohocken recognized many of the plants they use in their own garden as part of their efforts to embrace better environmental practices at home and at their restaurant, Brunch.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to see some of the other things growing here,\u201d said Danielle. \u201cYou’re just around all this steel and brick and cement, and then you have this. It\u2019s really cool.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The roof is constructed in layers to provide the necessary strength and insulation. The layers include a malfunction detection system that helps to spot any damage or leaks in the roof, and allows for mitigation that can specifically target the issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than just a garden<\/strong><\/p>\n

Green roofs offer many benefits for the buildings they cover. While a traditional black roof can last 25 years, a properly installed and maintained green roof can last up to 50 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition, the green roof does not absorb heat like a black roof, which reduces the cost of cooling the building during the summer. During the cold winter months, the extra layers help hold in heat and keep the building warm.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The green roof also offers many benefits to the surrounding area and city. According to PECO, the plants absorb 60 to 70 percent of the 1.5 million gallons of water that land on the building annually. This helps to reduce the burden placed on the city’s aging sewer system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Runoff from the roofs and streets can overwhelm the city’s sewer system during severe rain events. Drain water is usually sent to a wastewater treatment plant, however, when the sewer is overwhelmed, that water flows over into the Schuylkill River instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An oasis above Market Street<\/strong><\/p>\n

The chance to see a part of the city usually inaccessible to the public drew in Karen Kaminsky and Benjamin Bucior. As PHS members, both are also interested in learning about PECO\u2019s green practices.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always had a curiosity about green infrastructure and more sustainable strategies,\u201d said Bucior. \u201cI was interested in learning what sort of design challenges go into this, and how PECO approaches them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Soon, PECO will need to replace the roof on the 23rd floor at the top of its building. They may choose to establish a second layer of green roof.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While she doubts whether a second, higher roof would be opened to public tours, Hammond said PECO recognizes the benefits of their existing green roof, and might consider installing another green roof when the time comes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a possibility,\u201d said Hammond. \u201cI can\u2019t see why they wouldn\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

MORE: Philadelphia Zoo unveils ZooTopiaries, garden tours for America250<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\t\tKeywords<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tPECO,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t green infrastructure,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Philadelphia gardens,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t green roof,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Pennsylvania Horticultural Society,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t PHS Garden Season,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t sustainability,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Center City Philadelphia,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t stormwater management,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t urban ecology\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Steve Jeffries Philadelphia has been called Garden City or America’s Garden Capital, thanks to the wealth of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":835562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,158193,864,342583,1448,115741,2830,148728,1311,342582,342584,65106,1763,67,586,132,5230,74288,68,2969],"class_list":["post-835561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america","tag-center-city-philadelphia","tag-green-infrastructure","tag-green-roof","tag-pa","tag-peco","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-horticultural-society","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-gardens","tag-phs-garden-season","tag-stormwater-management","tag-sustainability","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-urban-ecology","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116671760659242007","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}