Public roofs, measured
Solar panels on Britain's public buildings, measured from above.
Schools, hospitals, stations, town halls — the public estate is covered in big, flat, sunlit roofs that mostly sit idle. We measure each one from above, the same aerial read we run on homes, and publish what it could actually generate.
What's sitting up there
The biggest single roof in that set is Royal Derby Hospital — room for about 15,076 panels (6.0 MWp). And these buildings suit solar unusually well: a hospital never closes, so the output gets used on site; a school exports its summer surplus while the panels pay down its winter bills.
From roof to reality
How public buildings actually get solar.
Government programmes
Great British Energy's first project (2025) is putting rooftop solar on around 200 schools and 200 NHS sites, with the bill savings staying with the school or hospital. The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme funds energy upgrades — including rooftop solar — across the wider public estate.
Council spend-to-save
Many councils fund panels on their own estate as invest-to-save capital: the panels are paid for from the energy bills they then reduce. Leisure centres — big flat roof, heated pool underneath — are often the first pick.
Community energy
Local community energy groups raise the money through share offers, install the panels, and sell the building its own roof's power at below-grid rates. It's how many schools and civic buildings that lack capital budgets get panels.
Power purchase agreements
A developer funds and owns the rooftop system; the building commits to buying the electricity at an agreed rate. No upfront cost to the public body — the roof does the work.
The bigger picture
What could the future look like?
Today, almost every public building buys every unit of electricity it uses. It doesn't have to work that way. The same roofs could generate through the day, power the building underneath, and give the surplus back to the grid — energy production spread across the buildings we already own, not just distant fields.
The money side is the interesting part. Community energy schemes already prove the model in miniature: local people fund the panels, the school or leisure centre buys its own roof's power for less, and the returns stay in the area instead of leaving it. Scale that across an estate and a town's energy bill starts becoming a town's income.
That's why we've measured famous buildings across the UK — cathedrals, palaces, museums, town halls — with the same technology we run on people's homes. Not because anyone is putting panels on St Paul's dome next week, but because the conversation about where our energy comes from goes better when the roofs in it have real numbers attached: measured from above, shown as ranges, survey always required.
You've seen the landmarks.
Check your own roof.
Enter your property number and postcode today, and we'll read your roof from the sky to get a better understanding of whether or not your roof is suitable for solar panels. Free, takes minutes, and no account necessary.
Every building we've measured
Landmarks, stations, schools, hospitals and supermarkets — what the country's largest roofs could generate if they went solar.
City of Wolverhampton College (Wellington Road)
Royal Liver Building
Portslade Aldridge Community Academy
York
Tower of London (White Tower)
London Waterloo
London Fenchurch Street
Tewkesbury Abbey
Page 5 of 5 · 104 buildings
Common questions
FAQs.
How do schools get solar panels in the UK?
Four common routes: Great British Energy’s first project (2025) is putting rooftop solar on around 200 schools, with the savings staying with the school; the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme funds energy upgrades including solar; some councils and academy trusts fund panels directly as spend-to-save capital; and community energy groups fund panels through local share offers, with the school buying the power at below-grid rates.
How do hospitals and NHS sites get solar?
The same Great British Energy first wave covers around 200 NHS sites, and the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme applies too. Hospitals are the strongest case in the public estate: they never close, so the panels’ output is used on site around the clock rather than exported.
Who decides whether a public building gets panels?
Whoever operates the estate: the council’s property or climate team for civic buildings and leisure centres, the governing body or academy trust for a school, the trust’s estates team for a hospital. If you want it to happen, that’s who to write to — and a measured page for the building is a better opener than a hunch.
How many solar panels fit on a large flat roof?
As a rule of thumb, roughly one panel per six square metres of roof once plant, edges and row spacing are accounted for — about 0.06–0.07 kW per square metre. A 10,000 m² roof holds roughly 1,500–1,700 panels. Every figure on this page is measured from the building’s actual roof rather than ruled-of-thumb.
How accurate are these figures?
They are full-fit theoretical figures: panels on every measurable roof section, before structure, loading, shading from plant, planning and access are considered. Treat them as a ballpark of potential, not a feasibility study — a real project starts with a commercial solar assessment.
What about my own roof?
A typical UK semi takes around 10–12 panels (roughly 4–4.5 kW). Enter your postcode on our roof check and we’ll measure your actual roof — direction, usable area and sunlight — in about a minute, free.
Full methodology, assumptions and cross-checks: how we measure. Includes solar data from Google.
Related
Keep going.
Check your roof
Address-based roof check. Postcode in, Solarable Report out.
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Britain's great stations, measured
The famous railway roofs — and which of them actually catch the sun.
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The stadium solar league table
Famous UK grounds, ranked by the solar their roofs could hold.
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Is my roof suitable for solar?
Direction-led explanation, with the quick roof check.
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Solar savings calculator
Annual benefit and payback in honest UK ranges.
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