The Green Infrastructure Maintenance Experts

Ontario’s leading provider of green infrastructure maintenance services.

What We Offer

  • Free preliminary site visits.
  • Custom quote and maintenance packages.
  • Environmentally friendly maintenance services.
  • Specialized fertilizer and biodiversity programs.
  • Operation in accordance with LEED v4 Operations and Maintenance guidelines.

Solutions/Services

Green roofs face several common issues, including erosion, weeds, and overgrowth into drains and root-free zones. An active maintenance plan ensures that these issues are prevented or resolved, thereby lengthening the lifespan of your green roof. Our maintenance division is a diverse team composed of trained professionals with educational and professional backgrounds in green space management, landscaping, and plant sciences, meaning GINKGO is well-equipped to ensure the ongoing aesthetic and functional performance of your living roof or living wall investment.

 

We work with property managers, homeowners, developers, and suppliers to develop a custom maintenance package that considers the needs of each individual site. Roofs currently in our maintenance portfolio range from low maintenance extensive systems to intensive highly maintained roofs on residential, commercial, and public buildings across Ontario. To date, GinkgoMaintenance services 200 active sites totalling 37 acres of vegetated area. For more information visit our FAQ page.

GinkgoMaintenance offers specialized programs that support environmentally friendly maintenance practices and encourage diverse green roof ecosystems.

 

For our Organic Fertilizer Program, we work with a specialized green roof diagnostic laboratory and soil consultancy to establish nutrient presence and determine precise fertilizer needs for our green roofs. Annual soil tests are conducted on a sample population of new installs and established systems from across the five most common green roof systems that we work with. The results of our soil sampling and testing inform the custom fertilizer blends we apply to our maintenance sites. Tailoring fertilizer application to green roofs ensures that fertilizer application is on an as-needed basis, which prevents nutrient runoff into the surrounding environment as well as controlling the growth rate of the biomass. Our fertilizer is sourced naturally, and from organic suppliers wherever possible.

 

Our Biodiversity Program yields benefits that extend beyond the roof – increased green roof biodiversity helps create new habitats for birds, insects, and pollinators, expand the presence of native and adaptive species, and increase the aesthetic appeal of a green roof. GINKGO’s Biodiversity Program follows the Biodiversity Guidelines developed by City of Toronto. While green roof biodiversity is typically considered at the design stage, it can also be incorporated later in a green roof’s life: for example, neglected green roofs that have transitioned towards a prairie meadow ecosystem can be maintained as such. Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto is an example of one of our maintenance sites that has successfully incorporated biodiversity principles into its maintenance program.

Some green roofs we come across have been neglected or subject to damage from trades, and show sparse plant coverage. Through the City of Toronto’s Eco-roof Incentive Program, green roof grants are issued three years after the initial planting is complete, the green roof is verified, and a site visit by a city inspector has been conducted. In order to pass the city inspection, the green roof must have a minimum vegetated coverage of 80%. We are often approached by property managers and developers seeking vegetation repairs on their green roofs to help ensure that the required coverage threshold is achieved, allowing payment to be issued. See some of our success stories here!

 

 

 

Our Maintenance Projects