Is your school roof ready for solar panels? A practical checklist

Why the roof comes first

The Department for Education estimates that the school estate has around 55 million square metres of roof area with the potential to support an additional 0.8 to 1.9 GW of solar power. How much of that a particular school can use depends on the roof, not the panels. The checks below are the ones DfE’s own guidance and standard engineering practice put ahead of an installer’s quote. They apply whether the money comes from capital, devolved formula capital or a power purchase agreement.

Check	What to establish	Who to ask
1. Roof age and covering	Will the covering outlast the array? Panels typically sit on a roof for decades; a roof near the end of its life should be replaced first.	Condition survey
2. Asbestos	Is there a current register and management plan, and has the roof been surveyed for building work rather than normal occupation?	Asbestos duty holder, surveyor
3. RAAC	Is reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete present or suspected?	Responsible body, DfE
4. Structure and loading	Can the roof carry the frame, panels and, on a flat roof, ballast?	Structural engineer
5. Planning and listing	Is the building listed or in a conservation area?	Local planning authority
6. Grid connection	Is the planned size over the G98 limit?	District network operator
7. Contractors on site	Have the school’s safeguarding checks been agreed?	Headteacher, DSL

1. Roof age and covering

Solar should not go on a roof you expect to replace within the array’s life, because the panels must come off and go back on. Roof coverings are exactly the kind of component DfE expects to fund through condition programmes: the Condition Improvement Fund guidance says it expects most projects to involve replacing high-priority components such as structural elements, boilers and electrics, fire doors and alarms, roof coverings and windows, and asbestos removal, and it prioritises weather-tightness. If the roof is due for replacement, a condition-led bid that designs the solar in is often the route to funding both; see whether a CIF bid can pay for school solar and how CIF bids are scored.

2. Asbestos

DfE’s Managing asbestos in your school or college (updated 11 March 2025, England) says the legal responsibility sits with the dutyholder, that the employer’s duty “cannot be delegated” and that for academies the employer is the trust. A current management plan is “essential to safe management of asbestos”, and the register should be updated at least annually.

The point for solar is the type of survey. A management survey, DfE says, is only suitable for normal occupation. Work that disturbs the building fabric needs a refurbishment or demolition survey, a more intrusive, destructive inspection that cannot be done in occupied areas. Fixing a rack to a roof is the kind of work that can disturb the fabric, so ask the asbestos dutyholder and a surveyor what survey the roof needs before the installer visits. Survey findings and the locations of known or presumed asbestos must be passed to those doing the work, and licensed work must be done by a licensed asbestos removal contractor. Our guide to solar on a listed or Victorian school building covers the older-building side.

3. RAAC

If reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete is confirmed in a building, solar is the wrong conversation. The CIF 2026-27 guidance says applications for RAAC mitigation or RAAC roof replacement “will not be accepted” because DfE funds the immediate and long-term costs of RAAC through a separate form of funding, including capital grants for refurbishment and rebuilding projects. Resolve that with your responsible body first.

4. Structure and loading

On a flat roof, ballasted systems typically add around 40–70 kg per square metre once the frames, panels and ballast are included, and the exact ballast is a site calculation signed off against the roof’s structural capacity and designed for wind to BS EN 1991-1-4. Pitched roofs need their rafters and fixings assessed. Ask for the structural engineer’s sign-off in writing before an order, not after it.

5. Planning and listing

Most school rooftop solar in England is permitted development under Class J of Part 14, with conditions, and the rules differ in Wales and Scotland; our guide to planning permission for school solar panels sets out each nation. A listed building needs listed building consent whatever the class says.

6. Grid connection

Up to 16 A per phase, which is 3.68 kW on a single-phase supply and about 11 kW on three-phase, a system connects under the G98 “connect and notify” route; above that the network operator must approve a G99 application before connection. Many older primary schools have a single-phase supply, which caps practical size; see how much solar a single-phase primary school can fit.

7. Contractors on site

Contractors working on a school site fall within the contractor checks in Keeping Children Safe in Education, in force in its 2026 edition from 1 September 2026 (paragraphs 368 to 373). Agree with the headteacher and the designated safeguarding lead how roof work will be separated from pupils and what checks each operative has had before work starts.

What to do next

Put the answers to checks 1 to 4 in one note: roof age, asbestos survey status, RAAC position and structural opinion. That note is what makes an installer’s quote comparable, and it is what a CIF bid or a Department for Education conversation will ask for. Then price it: the school solar cost guide shows what an array costs and earns, and devolved formula capital may cover part of it.

Sources

• DfE, Managing asbestos in your school or college, updated 11 March 2025.
• DfE, Condition Improvement Fund 2026 to 2027: information for applicants (priorities; roof coverings; asbestos duty; RAAC).
• DfE, Education Estates Strategy, 11 February 2026 (roof-area estimate).
• Engineering guidance on ballasted flat-roof loading and wind design (BS EN 1991-1-4); Energy Networks Association connection rules G98 and G99 via the network operators.
• DfE, Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 (contractors).