Solar Energy:

Nunnington Hall: Solar hot water for a National Trust country house

Installing a solar hot water system in a historic property requires special care so that no harm is done to the visual appearance or fabric of the building.

So when the National Trust decided to install a system at Nunnington Hall near York, once home to Robert Huicke, a doctor who tended three 16th century English monarchs, it turned to SolarUK, whose award-winning LaZer2 solar collectors are already providing the hot water for the shop at Brimham Rocks, another North Yorkshire National Trust property. 

In what proved a major undertaking, highly-skilled roofers, architectural joiners and many other professionals were brought in to ensure that tiles and pipework continued to blend with their surroundings after the panels were in place.

Obtaining planning permission for solar panels on this Grade 1 listed building had been a lengthy process, with one of the conditions being that they should not be visible from the outside. 

As part of a carefully-planned installation the SolarUK engineer who surveyed the property identified a south facing inner roof as the best spot for the panels.

Solar pipework emerging from a flat roof was designed to be indistinguishable from the exiting black cast iron pipes.

National Trust case study on Nunnington Hall

Nunnington Hall is open to the public for most of the year and has a busy programme of art and photographic exhibitions. As well as encouraging the government achieve the UK’s carbon dioxide reduction targets, the National Trust aims to apply energy saving principles to its own practices, reducing its energy demand and – as here, with a solar thermal system up and running – its reliance on fossil fuels.

The National Trust: Nunnington Hall

List of case studies

• Domestic by postcode: BR6 9TR; ME9 7NE
• Solar Photovoltaic installation on self build in Kent
• Planet Energy Solutions: Solar PV and Solar Thermal
• Nunnington Hall, A National Trust property with Solar Water Heating
• Photovoltaics: Solar PV installation, Bedfordshire
• Photovoltaics for a family home, East Sussex

• Solar Powered Bird Scarer, SolarUK provides the Energy!
• Killick House, the largest (when installed) solar water heating system in the UK.
• Orbis Energy: Eco Building, Lowestoft
• Leatherhead: Police Federation Building
• Oval Road: Communal Solar Heating
• Sheffield Hallam University - Solar Thermal and Photovoltaic (PV)