About Us
The Solar Design Company was founded in 1993 by Chris Laughton FIDHEE who
remains today as the managing director trading under a limited company. He is a highly experienced heating engineer specialising in solar and  wood fuel heating now based in mid-Wales. Here, he supervises a small team of people located at an old re-furbished slate quarried railway building.
With a wide experience in all aspects of the building trade and a variety of environmental and ecological projects, Chris Laughton helped found the Wirral Energy Advice Centre based near Liverpool, UK. Here, he undertook company site visits to identify carbon dioxide reduction measures. This included all branches of the well-known Co-operative bank in NW England.
Occasionally engaged by Granada and BBC TV over some years in Manchester for guest appearance and guest presenter for various television shows, he then qualified with CORGI, HETAS, SHINE 21 and un-vented hot-water storage. He went on to win the UK solar prize award in 2000 and was highly commended at the Merseyside 21 awards in the same year.
He has been secretary and chairman of the UK national trade association for solar (STA) and was appointed as a fellow of the Institute of Domestic heating and Environmental Engineers (IDHEE)  and co-currently the chair of the UK National Standards Committee for Solar Heating at the National Standards Body, BSI. He is a member of the Domestic Heating Panel of Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) and was the first UK assessor for the BPEC Solar Water Heating and Wood Heating certified courses for the British Plumbing Employer’s Federation (BPEC) wood heating training course for installers. He is also now a LOGIC Certification trainer and assessor for solar.
In 2007 he was assigned as unit leader for a new MSC for the University of East London’s ‘Renewable Energy in the Built Environment’ biomass and solar heating practicals. He is currently a regular columnist in ‘Building for a Future’ magazine (ISSN 1357-759X).
|
T*SOL
Home