Led by Swansea University, SPECIFIC is a UK national Innovation and Knowledge Centre (IKC) with partners including Tata Steel, NSG and AkzoNobel. The centre was established in 2011 to research how innovative technologies, such as solar collectors, can be deployed to make buildings more environmentally responsive. Active buildings “support the energy network by intelligently integrating renewable energy technologies for heat, power and transport” (SPECIFIC).

The SPECIFIC Active Office is an energy positive concept: it generates more energy through its renewable energy installations than is used to operate and heat the building. SPECIFIC aimed to demonstrate the active building concept, by using commercially available technologies, and provide a solution that is replicable and scalable.

The solar collectors are installed on the south-facing façade of the office building and have been operational since January 2019. Along with a rooftop photovoltaic (PV) array, the system directly supplies electrical power to the building. The solar heat is stored in a 528-gallon thermal storage tank through an indirect coil, and this heat is used for domestic hot water and space heating.