saintsilas@btconnect.com | 020 7713 6073
St Silas Church Penton Street London, N1 9UL
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  • Home
    • Parish Life >
      • Who's Who
      • Our Worship
      • Calendar
      • Visiting Us
  • Services & Sacraments
    • Our regular services
    • Baptism
    • Confirmation
    • Marriage
    • In times of need
  • Community
    • The Vision
    • Community groups
    • Community hall hire
    • Rehearsal space
  • Children
    • Junior Church
    • Parents & Toddlers
    • Youth Group
    • Local Church Schools
  • Heritage
    • Church guide
    • Parish History
    • WWI memorial
    • Solar Roof Project
  • Music
    • Music list
    • Musical instruments
    • Musical links
  • Contact

Solar Roof Project - Leading the Way

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Our Solar Roof Project resulted in St Silas becoming the first listed parish church in England to have a new roof complete with visible solar tiles
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​Pioneers in solar energy 
 
In 2010 St Silas Church became the first listed parish church in England to have a new roof complete with visible photovoltaic tiles, making us pioneers in solar energy.
 
News Articles

Here are links to articles which appeared in the press and on the web. Please note, just the south-facing side of the roof was fitted with solar tiles, the rest being new slate.

Low Carbon Economy 24th April 2009 Click here
BBC London News 17th April 2010 Click here
Islington Tribune 14th May 2010 Click here
Environmental website edie.net 14th May 2010 Click here
Christian Today 19th May 2010 Click here
Environment Times 21st May 2010 Click here
 
The financial challenge
 
The approximate costs for the our Big Solar Roof Project were :
 
£190,000   roof replacement and stonework repairs
£130,000   solar technology
£50,000     professional fees
 £370,000   TOTAL
 
Meeting the financial challenge
 
In addition to community fundraising and generous donations from individuals, we acknowledge generous funding from the following charitable trusts, foundations and statutory funders, without which the Big Solar Roof Project would not have been possible :
 
£103,200   Islington Climate Change
£65,484     Low Carbon Buildings Programme
£34,000     Richard Cloudesley's Charity (2008-2010)
£10,000     Garfield Weston Foundation
£10,000     Number 1 Trust Fund
£5,000       John Booth Charitable Foundation
£3,000       Islington West Area Community Fund
£2,000       Edith Thain Trust
£2,000       Lady Elizabeth Hatton Trust 
£2,000       London Heritage Trust
£1,000       All Churches Trust
£1,000       Church Union
£1,000       Clerkenwell Charities
£1,000       Morris Charitable Trust
 
In order for the work to go ahead we needed to borrow £100,000 from the London Diocesan Fund. This loan was mostly repaid between 2011 and 2013 by further contributions from Richard Cloudesley's Charity. (2011 - £17,500; 2012 - £20,000; 2013 - £20,000)
 
Solar power - an opportunity
 
About the time that our roof problems became acute, our young people, community hall users and church members embarked on an educational project to reduce our carbon footprint, both in the building and at home. The project initially ran for six weeks, in partnership with Islington Council Green Living Centre. Having learnt about our impact on the environment, we embarked upon a greener approach. The community made energy-saving pledges, exchanged old light bulbs for energy-efficient bulbs and an energy audit was carried out on our building to help us look to the future.

We discovered we could upgrade our heating and lighting requirements with the use of advanced solar-voltaic tiles incorporated within our roof structure. Churches have big south-facing roofs. They're perfect for generating solar power. The latest solar technology is completely different from what you may previously have seen. In fact they are so well disguised to look like real tiles that you may well have seen it and not noticed! If we include the right proportion of solar technology in our new Welsh slate roof, as well as stopping the flooding and the cold draughts, we can generate an estimated 47% of our 26,400KWh/year power requirements and make predicted savings of 7,027 kg CO2 per annum. The UK Government is committed to an 80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050 and, as the Diocese of London has said "projects like Saint Silas Church's are paramount to the challenge to combat climate change". Just think how green that would make us! But over and above this, we want to promote the environmental benefit and cost savings of going green. As a good example to other community organisations we could promote solar technology whilst enhancing our community space for local people.

In December 2008 the Diocesan Advisory Committee agreed to our scheme and in March 2009 Islington Council granted us planning permission.​

We are committed to safeguarding children, young people, victims of domestic abuse and vulnerable adults. The Parochial Church Council has adopted the Church of England’s policies and best practice on safeguarding which may be found on the Church of England’s website. https://www.churchofengland.org/more/safeguarding.

​Our Parish Safeguarding Officer is Nathan Lyons, who may be contacted at church or via the Parish Office: 020 7713 6073

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