In June 2005, CIS became the world's first insurance company to launch a customer-led ethical policy to guide the ethical performance of its investments. In line with their aim to reconstitute the relationship between its business activities and nature, CIS asked solarcentury to 'develop a solution' for ventilated PV rain cladding for their HQ in Manchester. Arup then employed solarcentury to act as PV consultants, providing specialised PV knowledge and design. The project creates the largest commercial solar facade in Europe. It is also be one of the largest solar power systems in the UK, demonstrating that solar technology is a practical cladding application, which provides an extremely cost effective alternative to conventional cladding materials. The service core is covered in no less than 14 million one centimetre square, grey tesserae. The mosaic began to fail a mere six months after the building was completed. It has become a significant health and safety issue, and hence the need for it to be addressed. This project demonstrates how solar power can be easily incorporated into any building refurbishment.