Farm solar project management: what to expect

Why multi-building programmes need it

A programme across several buildings is several construction jobs sharing one grid connection, one electrical design and one farm. Without someone coordinating the roofing, asbestos, structural, electrical and DNO work, the dependencies decide the programme by accident.

Who holds which role

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 set out the roles of client, principal designer and principal contractor on a construction project, and HSE publishes guidance on each. Ask the installer or the main contractor to say in writing who holds each role on your project, rather than assuming. The people to be named are:

• the principal contractor and the principal designer;
• the structural engineer who assesses the buildings (solar panel weight and roof loading on farm buildings);
• the roofing contractor and, where the roof is asbestos cement, the operatives trained for the work (overclad or strip an asbestos cement farm roof);
• the electrical contractor and the person responsible for the G99 application;
• the farm’s own contact for access, biosecurity and the livestock and harvest calendar.

The dependencies that set the programme

1. The survey of each roof: asbestos testing, condition and structure (farm roof survey for solar PV).
2. The route chosen for each old roof and the method statement for it.
3. The DNO’s G99 study, whose timescale the DNO sets and which runs in parallel (DNO grid connection for rural farm solar).
4. Weather: roof sheet removal should be limited to sections that can be re-covered the same day, as NFRC advises.
5. The farm calendar: which buildings can be worked on and when.
6. Commissioning and the documents handed over: the insurer will ask for them (solar panel insurance for farm buildings).

The programme to ask for

A written programme per building that names each dependency above, shows what runs in parallel and states what happens if the DNO study or the weather slips. Ask who is accountable for the whole, how changes are agreed and how the monitoring will be set up at handover (solar farm monitoring). The planning position is in planning permission for solar on farm buildings, and the cost baseline in the farm solar cost guide.