Research staff of the AdMaS Center of the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Brno University of Technology (VUT in Brno) led by prof. Petr Hlavínek, on August 8-10, 2022, during their second trip to the University of Banka Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in cooperation with colleagues from the local university, they completed the installation of experimental green roof modules and put the online monitoring system into operation.

Following the goals of the international project financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic entitled “Using biochar as materially transformed waste for extensive green roofs” from the Strengthening the capacities of public universities in developing countries program, the staff of the AdMaS center (Dr. Raček, Dr. Chorazy and Ing. Novotný) completed the installation of experimental modules of green roofs and thus started an intensive research collaboration in the field of testing substrates with biochar content in green roofs under the weather conditions as well as the partial use of recycled materials in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

As part of the testing, the effect of biochar on the substrate and on the vegetation of green roofs is now being investigated as a priority, the development and condition of the vegetation during the observed period of 1-2 years will also be documented. At the same time, the water retention capacity of individual substrates will be evaluated with regard to the measured rainfall and evapotranspiration from the vegetation areas will be calculated. The thermal properties of individual substrates are already being compared on the basis of temperature sensors placed at different depths in relation to the measured air temperature and solar radiation. Subsequently, physico-chemical analyzes of the organic component of the substrate, i.e. biochar, will be carried out and physico-chemical indicators of leachates from the artificial rain runoff of the individual modules will be evaluated.

In addition to the above, the experiment verifies the effectiveness of Czech utility model No. 34 637 “Substrate for green roofs“ developed by the author team of the Czech Technical University in Prague and the Technical University in Brno.

Apart from the work on the experimental modules of green roofs, further meetings took place with representatives of the University of Banja Luka, and research topics and possibilities for the mobility of master and Ph.D. students were discussed.

The complation of the second trip at the University of Banja Luka was a meeting with representatives of the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Sarajevo, which is responsible for this international project. The team of researchers from the AdMaS center, which was also accompanied on this trip by the vice-dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, doc. Zdeněk Dufek, Ph.D., presented his goals and the current status of the project solution. Representatives of the Czech Embassy, ​​namely the consul and head of development cooperation Mgr. Štěpán Šantrůček and the coordinator of development cooperation Mrs. Nejra Bučo discussed with the project team and representatives of the University of Banja Luka other possibilities that are offered as part of the Czech Republic’s development aid to Bosnia and Herzegovina, in particular the scholarship program for studying at Czech public universities.