£70,000
Saved per year
49
CO2 saved per year
Tonnes
274 kWp
System capacity
The Challenge
Florentia Village has been a working home for makers in north London for decades. It was originally established in the 1970s as a hub for garment manufacturers serving London’s fashion industry. General Projects and Waterfront Studios bought the campus in the Harringay Warehouse District, with plans for an extension that would double its size. The new buildings set a high bar: the extension was designed by Turner Works, targeting BREEAM Excellent and Net Zero Carbon in use.
Net zero in use means the energy has to come from somewhere, and the new roofs were the obvious place. The harder question was how to make solar pay for a landlord whose tenants each pay their own electricity bills.
The Solution
Eden Sustainable designed and installed a 274 kWp rooftop solar PV system across the new sawtooth roofs. Each roof carries its own row of panels, 542 JA Solar 505W modules in total, feeding three Solis inverters that serve different roof areas.
The system was set up so that tenants buy the electricity generated on site at a competitive rate, rather than it simply reducing a landlord’s bill. Eden managed the full project, from design and planning to the grid connection with UK Power Networks, installation and commissioning, working around a live campus and an active construction site.
The Outcome
Tenants now get cleaner electricity at a competitive price, and the landlord earns a new income stream from roof space that would otherwise sit idle. The system avoids around 49 tonnes of CO₂ a year.
For a campus designed to be net zero in use, the solar is part of the infrastructure rather than a bolt-on. It also shows a model that works for other landlords: when tenants pay their own bills, selling them solar power generated on the roof can make the numbers add up.