UK church solar specialists since 2010

Our story

SEO Dons Ltd was founded in 2010 by Donovan Fawcett. The original brief was to deliver commercial solar installations across SME and mid-market UK businesses. Within three years our work had drifted naturally toward heritage and community buildings — schools, churches, charities, NHS sites — where the technical complexity and grant landscape needed specialist installers willing to learn the faculty jurisdiction process, build relationships with Diocesan Advisory Committees, and engage with Historic England on listed-building solar.

By 2015 church work was the dominant strand of our practice. We had delivered faculty applications across the dioceses of Manchester, Bristol, Oxford, Salisbury, Lichfield, Coventry, Birmingham, Liverpool, York, Norwich, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle, St Albans and Peterborough. We had worked with cathedral fabric committees on visitor-centre solar at three English cathedrals. We had delivered Methodist Net Zero programme installations and Catholic parish projects in dioceses from Salford to Plymouth.

Today we are the UK's most experienced specialist for solar PV on places of worship. We do not chase volume; we deliver fewer, more carefully engineered projects with deeper diocesan engagement than any generalist commercial installer. We have never had a faculty application refused, never had a Listed Building Consent application refused on our advice, and our retention rate for second-phase work (hall first, church Phase 2) is over 70%.

Why specialism matters

A typical generalist commercial solar installer does most of their work on warehouses, schools, and office roofs. The economics are well-understood, the permitting is Permitted Development, the customer is a facilities manager or business owner used to commercial procurement. Almost everything we do is different from that template:

• The customer is volunteer-led — a PCC of lay parishioners, often with no professional facilities-management background, deciding by consensus
• The capital is constrained — most parishes operate annual deficits and rely on grants for major works
• The permitting is bespoke — faculty jurisdiction (CofE), Listed Building Consent (heritage), DAC consultation, sometimes Historic England engagement, occasionally SPAB or the Victorian Society
• The fabric is heritage — fixings must be reversible, panels must be visually minimised, conservation officers have real veto power
• The timescale is longer — typically 8–14 months from PCC decision to commissioning, versus 4–6 for commercial work
• The narrative matters — stewardship and creation care frame the project as much as the financial return

A generalist commercial installer who applies the warehouse template to a church usually produces a proposal that the DAC sends back for redrafting. That adds 8–16 weeks to the project, frequently triggers a renegotiation of capex, and damages PCC confidence in the work. We have re-quoted dozens of church projects after a generalist installer's proposal failed at DAC.

Our director and team

Donovan Fawcett is the founder and director of SEO Dons Ltd. Donovan has personally engaged on church solar projects since 2012 and has presented at diocesan conferences on parish energy strategy. He sits on advisory committees for several CofE diocesan environment programmes.

Our delivery team includes MCS-certified electrical engineers, structural engineers experienced with heritage roof structures, faculty-application specialists with previous DAC experience, and partnerships with EASA (Ecclesiastical Architects and Surveyors Association) member architectural practices for the most heritage-sensitive cases. We do not subcontract design or grant-writing work — those stay in-house to maintain the standard.

Accreditations and memberships

Our work is held to the highest standards in the UK commercial solar industry, with additional heritage accreditation reflecting the specialist nature of church work:

• MCS — Microgeneration Certification Scheme commercial certification
• NICEIC — National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting
• RECC — Renewable Energy Consumer Code member
• TrustMark — government-endorsed quality scheme
• Solar Energy UK — trade body member
• IWA-backed warranty — Insurance-backed Workmanship Assurance 10-year cover
• ISO 9001 / 14001 / 45001 — quality, environmental, occupational health & safety
• EASA-aligned — Ecclesiastical Architects and Surveyors Association working partnerships

HERITAGE COMMITMENT

EASA-aligned heritage practice

For our most heritage-sensitive projects — Grade I parish churches, cathedrals, scheduled ancient monuments — we work alongside Ecclesiastical Architects and Surveyors Association (EASA) member practices. EASA architects bring decades of cathedral and parish-church fabric experience, and their involvement signals to DACs and Historic England that the design has been considered from a heritage-first perspective. The technical solar work remains with us; the architectural lead and conservation rationale come from the EASA partner.

• EASA partnership on Grade I and Grade II* listed churches
• Statement of Significance drafted with conservation officer input
• Visual impact study to Historic England standards
• Reversible fixings as the design default for heritage fabric

Geographic coverage

We deliver across England, Wales and Scotland. Our most active dioceses are:

• Southern England: Oxford, Salisbury, Bath and Wells, Bristol, Winchester, Portsmouth, Chichester, Guildford, Southwark, London, Rochester, Canterbury, St Albans, Chelmsford, Norwich, Ely, Peterborough
• Midlands: Birmingham, Coventry, Lichfield, Derby, Leicester, Southwell and Nottingham, Worcester, Hereford, Gloucester
• Northern England: Manchester, Liverpool, Chester, Leeds, Sheffield, York, Newcastle, Durham, Carlisle, Sodor and Man, Blackburn
• Wales: Llandaff, Monmouth, St Davids, Bangor, St Asaph (Church in Wales)
• Scotland: Anglican dioceses of the Scottish Episcopal Church; Catholic and Methodist parishes

For complex or remote projects we travel; for our standard parish work we deliver primarily within the heart of England and Wales.

Our commitment to PCCs

Our standing offer to every PCC, churchwarden or treasurer who approaches us:

• Free desk feasibility, no obligation, no follow-up sales pressure
• PCC-ready report within 7 working days
• Honest assessment — if your numbers do not add up, we will tell you
• Faculty application and grant writing included in our standard project fee (not billed separately)
• Fixed-price proposal — no variation orders without your written approval
• 10-year IWA-backed workmanship warranty plus manufacturer panel and inverter warranties
• 25-year remote monitoring with annual parish-level reporting