Sowing the seeds for a sustainable future

Garsons (Thompson Brothers Ltd.) who have been ‘Growing Since 1871’ is an award-winning business that started life as a mixed farm more than 150 years ago by George Henry Thompson, supplying fresh crops to London’s Borough Market. Today Garsons has evolved into an award-winning destination garden centre, farm shop and restaurant in Esher, Surrey opening a second site in Titchfield, Hampshire in 1999. Today Garsons is led by fourth and fifth generations of the Thompson family. Together they are committed to driving environmental change at Garsons creating a bright and sustainable future for their business and the local communities they serve. 

Eco Energy Environment has been providing solar energy solutions since 2007 and was consulted by Garsons because of their wealth of commercial installation experience and expertise. They pride themselves on collaborating with high-quality manufacturers that offer high-performance, best-in-class products that give customers like Garsons the ultimate peace of mind.

As a European manufacturing pioneer and market leader in solar technology for the last 30 years, SOLARWATT is renowned for its German quality standards. Across Europe, more than 600,000 private households and companies use photovoltaic systems from the Dresden company to generate clean solar power themselves. In 2025, Solarwatt wants to reach the limit of one million installed systems.  Our solar panels continue to be trusted by our installation partners, to get the very best results for their customer's solar energy switchover.

As long-standing customers, Solarwatt were proud to award Eco Energy Environment with Premium Partner status for their loyal dedication to providing quality products and services.  Delivering highly skilled, professional, end-to-end services from consultation and system design to quality product selection and implementation – working in partnership with their clients and with trusted manufacturers like us, in pursuit of the best outcomes for their customers.

• Performance Vs Cost
• Versatility & Reliability
• Industry-Leading Guarantees

Designed and tested in Germany, Solarwatt Glass-Glass Panel vision modules come with industry-leading 30-year warranties and are the perfect profile for this type of commercial installation. “Our Glass-Glass panels come with a 30-year performance warranty and 30-year linear performance warranty which guarantees 87% left in the panel at year 30” said Neal Goddard, Sales Director UK & Ireland.

The precious solar cells are encapsulated on both sides with robust toughened glass panes, making them significantly more durable than conventional Glass-Foil solar panels. As Glass-Glass panels consist of two layers of tempered glass it also makes them inherently more fire-resistant. They are designed and tested for resilience to the highest European manufacturing standards and offer optimal protection against all weather conditions and mechanical stresses, so they will continue generating sustainable energy for Garsons, long into the future.

Delighted with the early results and reflecting on the positive customer reactions so far, Ben Thompson commented: “We’ve had a good response from our customers, I think they want to see that we are investing in improving our environmental credentials. We would recommend Eco Energy and Solarwatt, and we have a second installation underway now at our other site” “Results so far since we went live at Esher have been strong. That’s quite rewarding to see that energy cost-saving.”

Demonstrating a tangible return on investment Garsons completed their large-scale solar implementation at Esher quickly and efficiently without disruption to business operations and they can now look forward to a brighter future making even greater savings and generating sustainable clean energy for farming generations to come.