GUIDE · FOR UK SOLAR INSTALLERS · 12 MIN READ

Solar Carports and Car Park Canopies: A UK Installer Guide

Maximum height of a canopy under Class OA

4m

Maximum height of a canopy under Class OA

Minimum gap to the curtilage of homes

10m

Minimum gap to the curtilage of homes

For the council's prior approval decision

56 days

For the council's prior approval decision

To complete the canopy once cleared

3 years

To complete the canopy once cleared

A car park can be a large unshaded space the business already owns, and a canopy doesn't depend on the roof being strong enough. But the work is different from rooftop PV, and the scoping is where projects go wrong. This guide covers what a carport involves, the planning position, EV charging, the grid, and what to record on the site survey.

Last updated 22 October 2026. Planning, building regulations and CDM points are from legislation.gov.uk; buried services from HSE; EV charging from GOV.UK; all read that day and listed at the end. No prices are given: they depend on the site, and we won't guess.

What a solar carport involves

The permitted development order defines a solar canopy as a canopy structure installed with solar PV or solar thermal equipment, open on all sides or, where it adjoins a building, on three sides. In practice the job has four parts that a rooftop job doesn't, or not to the same degree:

• a structure that has to be designed, usually by a structural engineer, rather than a mounting system fixed to an existing one;
• foundations and groundworks in a working car park;
• surface water, because the canopy collects the rain that used to fall across the bays;
• cable routes underground from the canopy to the building's electrical system, and often to EV chargers.

You may subcontract the steel and the groundworks and keep the PV and electrical design yourself. Either way, you need to understand those parts well enough to scope and price the whole job.

Structure and foundations

The canopy carries the modules plus wind and snow loads, and it is open-sided, so uplift matters. The structure and its foundations should be designed for the specific site by a competent engineer, and the design depends on what is in the ground. That is why a ground investigation and a buried services survey come before the foundation design, not after. Other things that shape the structure:

• Clearance. Class OA caps any part of the development at 4m above ground level, which has to accommodate the clearance the site needs (vans, delivery vehicles, emergency access) and the tilt of the modules.
• Column positions. Columns have to fit the bay layout without blocking doors, walkways or turning circles. Mark them on the survey plan.
• Vehicle impact. Columns in a car park can be hit by vehicles. Plan protection in the design.

Groundworks and buried services

Car parks often have buried services under them: drainage, lighting and CCTV cables, ducts and sometimes supply cables. HSE's guidance HSG47, Avoiding danger from underground services (third edition, 2014), sets out the three basic elements of a safe system of work for excavation: planning the work, locating and identifying buried services, and safe excavation. It is aimed at anyone commissioning, planning, managing or carrying out work on or near underground services. Get the records, survey the site, and design the foundations and cable trenches around what you find.

Most car parks also have to stay at least partly open during the works, so plan the phasing, the exclusion zones and vehicle routes with the customer before the start date.

Drainage

A canopy concentrates rain into its drip lines and downpipes. Class OA has a specific condition here: where the canopy is above a permeable surface, provision must be made to direct run-off from the canopy to a permeable or porous area or surface within the off-street parking area (OA.2(2)). On any surface, look at where the water will go, whether the existing gullies and drains can take it, and whether the column foundations clash with drainage runs.

CDM and building control

A carport is construction work under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. HSE's summary of duties sets out the roles: the commercial client must make suitable arrangements for managing the project; designers must eliminate, reduce or control foreseeable risks in construction, maintenance and use; and where there is more than one contractor, a principal designer and principal contractor are appointed. A project must be notified to HSE if the construction work is scheduled to last longer than 30 working days with more than 20 workers working at the same time at any point, or to exceed 500 person days (regulation 6). The client gives the notice, so tell the customer if their job will hit that.

On building regulations, the Building Regulations 2010 exempt some small structures, for example a carport extension open on at least two sides with a floor area of no more than 30 square metres (Schedule 2, Class 7). A commercial canopy over several bays is normally far bigger than that, so speak to building control early about what they need to see on the structure and the electrical installation.

Planning: Class OA

In England, Class OA of Part 14 of the General Permitted Development Order 2015 has, since 21 December 2023, allowed the installation, alteration or replacement of a solar canopy within an area lawfully used as off-street parking, other than for a house or block of flats. It is not permitted development (OA.1) if:

• any part exceeds 4m in height above ground level;
• any part is within 10m of the curtilage of a house or block of flats;
• it is within the curtilage of a house or block of flats;
• it is on a scheduled monument or within its curtilage, or within the curtilage of a listed building;
• it is for the display of an advertisement; or
• the car park is only in use under the temporary-use right in Part 4 Class B.

Conditions (OA.2). Before starting, the developer must apply to the council for a determination as to whether prior approval is needed for the canopy's siting, design and external appearance, in particular glare on occupiers of neighbouring premises, and, on article 2(3) land, the impact of its appearance on that land. The prior approval procedure is the one used for large rooftop solar under Class J, including the 56-day period. The work must be completed within 3 years of prior approval (or of the council saying it isn't needed, or the 56 days running out). When the canopy is no longer needed it must be removed and the land restored so far as reasonably practicable. The government's explanatory memorandum adds that siting includes non-protected trees in the car park.

Outside those limits, the canopy needs planning permission. Our commercial solar planning permission guide covers Class J, prior approval and the rules for conservation areas and listed buildings. Scotland's non-domestic permitted development rights are explained in Planning Circular 2/2024, which deals with solar canopies in parking areas in its Annex D; Wales and Northern Ireland have their own rules, so check before relying on Class OA outside England.

Adding EV charging

Many carport customers want chargers under the canopy. Three things are worth knowing:

• Planning. Part 2 Class E of the permitted development order covers an upstand with a charging outlet within an area lawfully used for off-street parking. In a non-domestic car park the upstand and outlet can be up to 2.7m high, with no more than one upstand per parking space, and not within a scheduled monument or the curtilage of a listed building. Ground-level equipment housing is allowed within limits: no more than 45 cubic metres in total, 3m high, not within 5m of a highway or 10m of the curtilage of a home, with prior approval on article 2(3) land once the total passes 29 cubic metres.
• Building regulations. Approved Document S gives the guidance on Part S, which applies EV charging requirements to new non-residential buildings and to non-residential buildings undergoing major renovation, among others. If the carport is part of a new build or a major renovation, check what Part S already requires.
• Funding. The Workplace Charging Scheme pays up to £500 per socket for installations completed on or after 1 April 2026 (£350 before), up to 75% of purchase and installation costs including VAT, for up to 40 sockets per applicant across all sites. It has been extended for a final year to 31 March 2027, and the grant is claimed by the installer, who must be OZEV-authorised.

Grid connection

A canopy adds generation and chargers add demand, and both go to the distribution network operator. Size the PV and the charging together and make one coherent application, rather than two that contradict each other. The steps are the same as for any commercial system:

• DNO application for solar — finding the right DNO and choosing the route.
• G99 application for commercial solar — the forms and timescales for most commercial systems.
• G100 export limitation — limiting export so a larger array can connect where capacity is tight.
• Grid connections reform — how the reformed queue affects larger projects.

Scoping a carport on the site survey

A carport survey needs more than a roof survey. Record:

1. 1Is it lawfully used off-street parking?. Class OA only covers an area lawfully used as off-street parking, and not a car park provided as a temporary use under Part 4 Class B. Ask how long the car park has been there and whether it had permission.
2. 2Measure to the nearest homes. No part of a Class OA canopy may be within 10m of the curtilage of a house or block of flats. Mark homes, gardens and flats on the site plan.
3. 3Check heritage and designations. Not within the curtilage of a listed building or on a scheduled monument. On article 2(3) land (conservation areas, National Parks and similar), the council also considers the canopy's appearance.
4. 4Find out what is under the tarmac. Get the utility records and plan a survey of buried services before any foundation design. Drainage runs, lighting cables and ducts are common in car parks.
5. 5Look at the surface and the drainage. If the canopy sits over a permeable surface, the run-off must go to a permeable or porous area in the car park. Note falls, gullies and where water collects now.
6. 6Record how the car park is used. Bay layout, vehicle heights (vans, deliveries, fire engines), lighting, CCTV, barriers and whether the site needs to stay open during the works.
7. 7Ask about EV charging plans. Existing chargers, planned numbers and who will own them. It changes the cable routes, the electrical design and the DNO application.
8. 8Get the supply details. Incoming supply, main switchboard location and distance to the car park, and the site's import and any existing generation, ready for the DNO conversation.

The rest of the visit is in our commercial solar survey checklist. Carports tend to come up with larger sites that also have big roofs, so it's worth asking about both. If you want more of those conversations, our commercial solar leads are booked survey appointments with business owners, and the commercial solar lead generation comparison on tnwmarketing.com sets out how UK suppliers compare.

Solar carports: FAQ