UK church fits solar-tiled roof

Thursday, 20 May 2010 15:43

A London church has made history by becoming the first church in the capital's diocese to be fitted with a solar-tiled church roof.

St Silas Church, Pentonville celebrated the laying of it's final eco-friendly tile at a special topping out ceremony attended by local dignitaries and council officers this week.

The ceremony marks the end of a journey that started in the summer of 2008 when heavy rains penetrated the old roof and damaged the inside of the church, Christian Today reported.

It is thought the church could be the first in the country to have been fitted with a new green-inspired solar tiled roof which has been crafted to ensure it looks similar in appearance to its orignal.

The project is part of a move within the Diocese of London to make climate change a priority. Church leaders have already set themselves a challenging target of reducing all its emissions by more than 20 percent by 2012.

The church's new roof tiles will generate an estimated 47 per cent of its power requirements.

They will also help reduce church carbon emissions by more than 7000 kg each year. St Silas will even sell green energy back to the National Grid using the recently launched government-led feed-in-tariffs scheme.

The church raised £270,000 in donations towards the project, with donations from Islington Council’s climate change fund and the Low Carbon Buildings programme.

Brian Cuthbertson, Head of Environment Challenge at the Diocese of London, who attended the topping out ceremony said: "St Silas' Church is an emblem of the kind of determined action we all need to take to shrink our energy use and carbon emissions. The people of St Silas have proved that our many historic churches can play a big part without losing what makes them special for us."