The David Livingstone Trust cares for David Livingstone’s Birthplace in Blantyre, just outside of Glasgow, a museum and park dedicated to celebrating the life and legacy of Scotland’s most famous explorer. The site welcomes visitors year-round and includes a café, museum and extensive grounds that remained fully open throughout the installation.
Completed in November 2024, this solar PV project was designed to support the site’s sustainability goals while respecting the unique considerations of a heritage setting. Although the solar array was installed on a newer pavilion building rather than the Category A-listed birthplace itself, the project still required full planning approval due to the site’s historic significance.
Careful attention was paid to the visual appearance of the system, with all-black solar panels selected to complement the building and minimise visual impact. Throughout the project, the Gensource team worked closely with the David Livingstone Trust to ensure day-to-day operations could continue uninterrupted, keeping disruption to staff and visitors to an absolute minimum.
The solar PV system is expected to generate approximately 19.9MWh of renewable electricity each year, helping to reduce the site’s reliance on grid electricity and lower ongoing energy costs. The environmental impact is equivalent to planting around 177 trees annually, supporting the organisation’s commitment to sustainability and carbon reduction.
We used Gensource for our solar installation at the David Livingstone Centre and I cannot recommend this company highly enough. They worked with us every step of the way and totally understood our needs and requirements – working with a small independent charity is not always straightforward! Thank you very much to all the team – every person who attended us site was courteous and polite and tried their very best to minimise the noise during cafe opening hours. We could not ask for a better experience from beginning to end. Thank you!