Will Rudd’s 1 MW solar carport at Scottish Water HQ: design and drainage lessons
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Will Rudd has enabled installation of a 1 MW solar carport system for Scottish Water’s Stepps HQ in Glasgow, with 2,250 panels spanning 243 parking bays and expected to generate about 1 GWh/year, roughly one third of the site’s electricity and a 160‑tonne annual carbon saving. By re‑using the existing drainage network and SuDS features and adding only one new connection for a GRP switch room, the team avoided extensive new underground drainage works and associated cost. Responsibilities covered foundation and substructure design, swept path analysis for vehicle movements, SER certification of third‑party canopies, and live‑site construction support.
Technical Brief
- Detailed assessment of existing site levels and surface-water flow patterns underpinned the drainage reconfiguration.
- Existing SuDS and pipework were retained as primary conveyance, avoiding wholesale replacement of buried infrastructure.
- Only one new drainage connection was constructed, solely to serve the GRP electrical switch room.
- Foundation and substructure design had to accommodate canopy column loads within a constrained, fully paved car park.
- Swept path analysis checked vehicle manoeuvres around new canopy supports and switch room footprint.
- Structural Engineers Registration (SER) certification was provided for third-party canopy designs to satisfy warrant requirements.
- Structural design submissions supported the building warrant process, integrating solar structures with existing building approvals.
- Live, high-traffic operations required ongoing civils/structural site support to resolve clashes and construction-stage technical queries.
Our Take
Will Rudd’s role at Scottish Water’s Stepps HQ follows its appearance on another Glasgow scheme in our database – Alumno’s St George’s Road student accommodation – signalling the firm is becoming a go‑to structural consultant for complex urban projects in the city.
Covering 243 parking bays with solar canopies at Stepps suggests a replicable model for other constrained urban utility sites in Glasgow, where roof space is limited but car parks offer structurally straightforward opportunities for similar 1 GWh‑per‑year class systems.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
Related Articles
Related Industries & Products
Construction
Quality control software for construction companies with material testing, batch tracking, and compliance management.
Mining
Geotechnical software solutions for mining operations including CMRR analysis, hydrogeological testing, and data management.
QCDB-io
Comprehensive quality control database for manufacturing, tunnelling, and civil construction with UCS testing, PSD analysis, and grout mix design management.