'Grand Designs' episode sparks big interest in Estonian solar roof panel makers

An installment of a long-running British TV show has led to a manufacturer of solar roof panels getting hundreds of inquiries from potential customers, many of them in the United Kingdom, construction news site Ehitusleht reported.
The episode of the long-running Channel 4 show "Grand Designs," which follows the construction of a single house from breaking ground to completion, aired last November. Solar panels made by Estonian firm Roofit.Solar appeared in the episode, and the company says it has been riding that wave ever since.
The installment of "Grand Designs" saw environmental consultant Duncan Eastland and his partner, lawyer Liz Vernon, striving to build an eco-home which could, via solar power, produce four times the energy requirements of the house itself, which would make it the first residential building in the UK to be Passive House premium certified.
Such designs do not come cheap, however – close to €140,000 of total spend was due to Roofit.Solar alone, and to cap it off the new house was being built in the Cotswolds, a particularly affluent region of Southwest England.
A passive house, sometimes called a net zero house, comes with many requirements. Those relating to air tightness (in order to retain heat) alone included even installing an air-tight cat flap which automatically opens and closes when the cat intends to come inside or go outside – at a cost of €1,700.
Also needed meet the requirements for Premium certification is that this particular house, which had 550 square meters of heated space, can generate its own electricity. "It's like a miniature power plant," as host Kevin McCloud, who has been with the show since it started, put it.
The passive house once finished would in theory be able to power much of the nearby village, it was reported.
While the company's name was never mentioned and logos were blurred out, that it was designed in Estonia and installed by Estonians, who said it was the biggest job the company had done to date, did at least come across to viewers.
Additionally, Duncan Eastland visited Tallinn in the course of making the episode, and was seen walking through the Town Hall Square, as noted by Ehitusleht an effect sadly marred by the background music being of a Russian balalaika-based folk music, and a lingering shot of the edifice that is the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (see video clip below).
Eastland said roofing material he was able to source in Estonia came in at around 60 percent less than originally budgeted four (though still coming in at £118,000, or nearly €138,000).
Meelis Reiman, marketing manager at Roofit.Solar, said that new inquiries off the back of the show are still coming in, several months after it aired, putting the figure at around a thousand so far.
Viewers likely Googled Estonian solar panel manufacturers, while the episode probably also benefited the company's competitors inside Estonia, too, he said.
Maiko Kiis, marketing manager at one such competitor, Solarstone, agreed that the company noticed a spike in interest in their product coming from the UK, though, unfortunately, this was in vain, since the company has no current plans to enter that market.
For Roofit.Solar, however, the timing was perfect, as the company had just started becoming more active in the UK market – all of which was a coincidence, he added.
The "Grand Designs" episode filming began in August 2020, with a deadline of a year-and-a-half for construction, but due to delays, it was not finished at the time the episode was completed, and, it was estimated, would take around as much time again to do so.
The building at least passed the air tightness test, with confirmation coming that the solar panels provided the required amount of energy to qualify for the passive house certificate.
"Grand Designs" marks its 25th anniversary this spring, while the show's format has been replicated in many other countries, including Finland.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
Source: Ehitusleht