Future-proofed luxury new-build home

The project

When the owners of this new-build home started planning their property, the brief was never simply “add solar panels”. The house was being designed around a modern, all-electric energy strategy — a 16kW air source heat pump providing underfloor heating and hot water throughout — and Ecoaim was brought in to design a complete energy system that would make the most of that self-generated electricity and keep long-term running costs down.

Most solar installations are designed around roof space. This one was designed around energy consumption. The 16kW heat pump was one of the largest electrical loads in the house — responsible for space heating, hot water and year-round demand — so rather than fitting the maximum number of panels, we sized the solar and battery system specifically to complement the home’s predicted heat-pump usage.

Because we were engaged before the build, we could do it properly. We worked alongside the roofers and electricians and installed each element at the right stage to fit the client’s programme — so the solar became part of the house rather than something added on afterwards.

On the roof, the result is a 45-panel roof-integrated array on a premium GSE in-roof mounting system. Sitting flush within the roofline rather than on top of it, the array keeps the clean architectural lines of the new-build and forms an integral part of the property.

Inside, the home runs on a Sigenergy smart energy platform — a three-phase hybrid inverter, battery storage and a Sigenergy Backup Gateway, with intelligent monitoring and optimisation. Solar generated through the day is stored and used when heating, hot water and household demand are highest, helping to offset the electricity the heat pump draws, increase self-consumption, cut imported electricity and make the most of time-of-use tariffs.

The Backup Gateway adds a further layer of resilience: for a family investing in a premium all-electric home, keeping access to stored energy during a grid outage brings real peace of mind.

Rather than treating solar, battery and heating as separate technologies, we designed heating, hot water, storage, generation and backup as a single strategy — giving the homeowners an energy infrastructure built to support efficient, comfortable, all-electric living for decades to come. It’s the approach we bring to every new build: start with how the home will actually use energy, and design the system around it.