Solar panels are an easy add-on to any historic property. With urban housing stock across London and in other historic cities and towns, there isn’t a perfect orientation that benefits more from the addition of solar panels. Front facing roofscapes will likely be protected by planners, chimneys can add shading, rooflights remove useable area and so on. In our experience however, there is typically sufficient roof area to offer a return on investment for homeowners. The pay-back time for solar panels will be around 10 years and adds value for any homeowners relocating prior to this period – seeing the property being next-generation ready.

Atelierdb are experienced to work with traditional solar panels as well as panels that integrate into the historic slate tiles – bringing further efficiencies and payback to homeowners seeing front roof slopes being used for additional generation of energy.

Only when designing from scratch with newbuild schemes can orientation improve the performance of solar panels locating them in optimum arrangements. Even then, in built-up urban situations, Planning Authorities can place more importance on building form relative to the streetscape than allowing solar panels to drive the form of the building.

Solar panels alone provide ‘free’ immediate direct energy. Seasonal variations impact on the efficiency of the panels with long Summer days bringing good generation, and short Winter days with lower sun angle bringing less.  A lot of properties are empty during the work day with any immediately accessible ‘free’ energy lost – extending the return on investment period. Installing a battery will capture this energy and increase efficiency of the system. Although a battery can see a typical home being supplied with stored energy for 24 hours in the event of a power cut – the main reason is to connect the system to the Electricity Grid allowing the home owner to buy and sell electricity, bringing cheaper rates and quicker return on investment.

The placement of the battery must comply with Regulations, British Standards and other safety requirements.

PAS 63100:2024 | 20 Mar 2024 | BSI Knowledge

These represent a fire risk and must ideally be located externally in a well ventilated area away from direct sunlight. If an external location is not possible then they can be located internally within a fire compartment and away from habitable rooms and protected means of escape.

Atelierdb are experienced with competent installers of solar energy systems and can advise in line with the RIBA Workstages on all requirements.  We consider the design and placement of panels and associated installations at Planning stage through to completion on site. We also ensure that the programming of such installations is best managed on site – giving consideration that the Solar companies will need to apply to the local distribution network (DNO) and inform on the new connection into their network. We have developed professional working relationships with Solar Panel companies and we typically tender to 3 or 4 companies per project to provide clients with competitive prices and product information.

At Atelierdb Architects, we think every opportunity to champion new low carbon technologies should be embraced inline with the UK government’s Net Zero 2050 target and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) 2030 Climate Challenge.