Exactly 400 years ago today, 25th August, the Italian astronomer Galileo showed off his new creation – a telescope. This was the first in a line of improved models which enabled him to make his earth-shattering discoveries about the sun’s relationship with the Earth.

Fast-forward 399 years, and this month sees the first birthday of Sheffield Hallam University’s Furnival Building, a landmark addition to Sheffield’s city centre with solar panels and photovoltaic cells provided by SolarUK, the leading UK designer and installer of solar hot water systems, amongst its energy-saving features.

When Galileo marvelled that “the sun, with all those planets revolving around it and depending on it, can still heat a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do”, he could just as validly have used the example of a SolarUK Lazer2 solar collector instead of fruit.

SolarUK’s LaZer2 solar panels, which outperformed those of major competitors during independent testing in Switzerland, absorb the sun’s energy to heat the Furnival Building’s domestic water supply, while its photovoltaic cells convert the sun’s light directly into electricity for decorative lighting.

The 9,500m2 building, which also benefits from a ground source heat pump and an intelligent lighting system, accommodates over 240 staff, with teaching space for more than 1600 students, and brings the University’s creative disciplines together in a state-of-the-art new home for the Faculty of Arts, Computing, Engineering and Sciences.

The first exhibition was held in its art gallery last September.

As Gill Dickson, associate director at Bond Bryan Architects said during construction, “We are proud that the new building will be an exemplar showing how to optimise sustainability within a city centre context”.

Galileo would surely have approved of the solar contribution.

Email: contactus@solaruk.com