Location: Sandiway, Northwich, Cheshire
Client: BBC DIY SOS Children in Need Special 2025
Supplier: SIG Roofing for solar panels & SIG Industrial Roofing for metal sheeting
Roofing Products supplied: Plastisol metal roof sheets & 12 x QCELL solar panels
Roof size: 250m2
Date roof completed: September 2025
Image credit: Paul Atherton Photography
Background:
The Joshua Tree is a children’s cancer support charity founded by Lynda and Dai Hill 20 years ago after their son Joshua was diagnosed with leukaemia when he was just five years old. Joshua is now a healthy 26-year-old, but their work has continued, and the charity currently supports more than 300 local families. The demand for the service they offer is increasing nationwide as families travel further to access treatment from nearby Alder Hey and Manchester Children’s Hospital.
The Joshua Tree was therefore in need of expansion, and the BBC DIY SOS team, with the help of local tradespeople, suppliers and volunteers, stepped in to nearly double the size of the charity’s facility based near Northwich in Cheshire. The ambitious build included a gym, new therapy and counselling rooms, safe play areas and much-needed accommodation for families travelling long distances for treatment.
The build work was both started and completed in September this year and was aired on BBC TV as a Children in Need Special on the 14th November.
Roofing product choice:
SIG Roofing was contacted and supplied the following roofing products to help with the extension:
To meet the specification requirements and aesthetics of the building, 255 linear metres of Sinusoidal Metal Roof Sheets in Anthracite were supplied by the SIG Roofing branch based in Warrington.
Grid Neutral, solar installation experts, had worked with DIY SOS before, and made direct contact with SIG Roofing to supply 12 Q-CELL 435kW black solar panels to affix to the sheet metal roof. These panels were requested to help support the charity’s energy needs and reduce energy running costs. As Grid Neutral is based in Sheffield and took the products to the site, these panels were supplied, along with fixing accessories, from the SIG Roofing branch in Grimsby.
Result:
As always with DIY SOS, there were tight timeframes to complete this project. It may have been our job at SIG Roofing to get the products to the project in time, but the real work was with the installers who fitted the roof and solar panels. They did an incredible job, the end result is stunning, and all for a great cause.
Watch the DIY SOS show at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002m42l
To donate to the charity: https://donate.justgiving.com/charity/thejoshuatree/donation-amount
Roofing Images supplied by Grid Neutral