St Stephen’s Theatre Company seeks listed building consent to install photovoltaic solar panels on the roof of its Stockbridge headquarters.
Few would bat an eye at the proposal to install solar panels in St Stephen’s Church, if only their HQ wasn’t a Catagory-A listed building.
Playfair’s 1828 building is a New Town landmark to which the eye is drawn from vantage points across the city.
The additions would be made to the octagonal roof behind and below the clock tower. Staran Architects Ltd produce photomontages of the likely appearance from all points of the compass.
These appear to show that there is ‘minimal’ visibility of the 27 panels from roof height (without stating which roof height) and none at all from street level.
What they do not show is how the panels would appear when seen looking down from, say, the Castle or Calton Hill (as shown in the image below).
Staran say internal features of the building would not be affected, but they do not give details of how the additions would be fixed to slate and metal surfaces. nor do they provide details as to how the panels would connect to the rest of the building’s infrastructure, or specify the panels’ materials and finishes.
Structures like St Stephen’s are notoriously difficult and expensive to heat, and most people would welcome environmentally friendly solutions like this which facilitate their continued use and preservation.
Many people would also accept that some compromising of historic buildings’ ‘heritage integrity’ is a price worth paying at a time of climate change as we struggle to achieve net zero.
In this case, however, the Broughton Spurtle would argue that the application contains too little detail for us to decide whether the level of compromise here is acceptable or not.
To submit your opinion for, neutral or against the proposal, visit HERE.
The deadline for comments is 22 November and a determination is expected by 22 December.
Got a view? Tell us at spurtle@hotmail.co.uk.
