Haworth’s Green Roof Gains Global Recognition

Haworth Inc. has its corporate office, a large warehouse and three manufacturing facilities at its One Haworth Center campus in Holland, part of the Macatawa Watershed.  A 2008 renovation expanded Haworth Corporate Headquarters to better showcase the furniture manufacturer’s designs and products, while also increasing natural light in the building and incorporating important, voluntary green stormwater infrastructure features.

The 300,000-square-foot, LEED-NC Gold facility now has flowering sedum plantings on a 45,000-square-foot modular green roof, with white roofs on the warehouse portion. The green roof’s west end slopes down three stories and flows into a bioswale, while also narrowing in width from top to bottom.  A barrier installation was added to help regulate the flow of water during severe storms.  Larger drain holes were also drilled into the edging at the base.

The highly reflective green roof accounts for LEED contributions in Sustainable Sites and Material Resources: Heat Island Effect-Roof; Recycled Content; and Regional Materials.  In 2010, Eva Maddox, founder of Branded Environments and at the time a design principal at Perkins and Will, selected Haworth’s vegetated roof as one of the Top 10 Green Roofs Across the Globe for a piece in the Huffington Post.

A 2008 renovation at Haworth Corporate Headquarters included a 45,000-square-foot modular green roof.

LiveRoof fully vegetated modules allow for sharing of water, nutrients and beneficial organisms across the entire rooftop for natural function and beauty.  It also minimizes regulated heat and moisture and avoids compartmentalizing the growing medium into an unnatural container as is the case with some other modular systems.

Stormwater that is not captured from the green roof or bioswales flows into four detention ponds, with slow infiltration and overflow spillway, although overflow is a rare occurrence. A stormwater pipe connected to the detention ponds discharges into the creek on the property, with wood chips being the only risk to contamination. The creek behind the property flows into the Macatawa River and eventually into Lake Macatawa.

Green Stormwater Infrastructure Delivers Cost-Effective Value

Although Haworth did not receive any financial incentives for implementing green stormwater infrastructure (GSI), company officials believe the benefits outweigh the costs to demonstrate the company’s dedication to the triple bottom line and need to remain competitive in utilizing sustainable solutions. In fact, upkeep of the green roof has proven cheaper than conventional roofs due to the modular nature of the roof-specific components, which can be replaced without having to address the roof.  General maintenance requirements (primarily labor for a groundskeeper to manage weeds) also are low.

The progressive implementation of GSI throughout the site expansion process reduced flooding events in impervious areas such as parking lots, allowing for easier capture in retention basins, (later detention basins), which helped to gain traction for further investments in the green roof, bioswales and rain gardens.

GSI Becomes an Important Engagement Tool

Haworth issues an annual Sustainability Report that highlights its many sustainability initiatives, including its efforts to increase green space, improve water quality, and engage employees in the process. It is dedicated to restoring green spaces and protecting the habitat surrounding its premises. Reduced irrigation and less frequent grass cutting have allowed many sections of the campus to return to its natural habitat. The company provides a Member Garden for employees to produce their own vegetables to share and donate to the community. Employees are also encouraged to participate in volunteer opportunities dedicated to removing invasive species such as garlic mustard from the property and surrounding areas and to give back to their community.

Company officials believe the benefits of GSI outweigh the costs.

In addition, Haworth is also a leader in the Macatawa River Greenway Project, working to protect banks, floodplain forests, marshes, meadows and wetlands along the Macatawa River. By signing on early to this initiative, Haworth has contributed by adding to the greenway and protecting the natural corridor that improves water quality not only in Lake Macatawa but in Lake Michigan as well.

It also donated 70 acres of property southeast of its headquarters to West Michigan water-restoration Project Clarity, a $12 million effort to reduce sediment, nutrient and bacterial pollution in Lake Macatawa. The property was the first restored to its former natural wetland state for Project Clarity.

In addition to the environmental benefit of collecting and storing water, the land could generate future revenue for Project Clarity as a wetland mitigation bank, in which “credits” are sold to other state-approved projects that impact wetlands. Project Clarity has also benefited employees by providing them with hiking trails and preserved green space for them to enjoy at the south end of the property. Additional Haworth-owned land is leased to a local farmer who is dedicated to sustainable farming practices through minimal soil disturbance which makes the land less susceptible to runoff. Through many of these projects, Haworth has demonstrated that by enabling nature to do what it does best, many sustainability outcomes have been achieved without having nature to contend with concrete.

“We are glad to be a significant part of this,” said Dick Haworth, chairman emeritus at a groundbreaking ceremony at Haworth headquarters to kick off the project in 2015.  “I’m a big fan of getting the whole system into the room to analyze problems, and I’m also a big fan of looking at problems from a systems standpoint, which is what Project Clarity is doing in finding solutions for all parties involved.”

Stormwater Currency is a collaboration between American Rivers, Corona, and WEF, with support from a private foundation. We are focused on building market-based and other incentive programs that link people, businesses, and local government to fund, build and maintain green stormwater infrastructure. Our goal is to create sustainable funding programs that increase private sector participation while providing multiple benefits to the public and the environment.

Haworth is more than an office furniture manufacturer. From floor to ceiling, and wall to wall, Haworth’s mix of products offers endless options for transforming spaces tailored to business needs, helping people do their best work, while optimizing real estate. Haworth engages employees in sustainable practices; initiating and using processes that are neutral or improve the environment and utilizing resources in ways that create adaptable and sustainable workspace solutions for customers. Haworth reduces its ecological footprint and impact to neighboring streams, rivers and lakes by banning the use of certain chemicals in manufacturing, sourcing responsibly and decreasing waste. We do all of this globally to protect and restore our environment, create economic value, and support and strengthen our communities.