In the 1980s Colt adapted its ventilation products to commercial buildings and entered the solar shading market. In the 1990s the company invested in research in the control of daylighting levels and solar power. This led to the design of Shadovoltaic, a combined solar shading, daylighting and electricity generating system for facades and roofs of buildings. In 1990 Colt designed, built and installed the distinctive steel pyramid on top of the skyscraper at One Canada Square in Canary Wharf. In 2007 Colt purchased Bomin Solar, a company specialising in sunshading and daylighting systems. Colt participated in the design of the world's first microalgae-based bioreactor facade. Its installation at the BIQ house  at the International Building Exhibition in Hamburg was completed 23 March 2013. This is part of pilot project to showcase a bioreactive façade and is the result of three years of research and development by Colt based on a bio-reactor concept developed by SSC Ltd and design work by Arup with funding support from the German Government's "Forschungsinitiative ZukunftBau"  research initiative. The photo bioreactive façade won the Zumtobel Group Award 2014 in the Applied Innovations category. In 2014 Colt expanded its range of evaporative cooling systems with the launch of a new rooftop that combines cooling, heating, heat recovery, air filtration and ventilation. The company also invested in increasing production efficiency at its manufacturing facility in China and extended the range of products manufactured at the plant to serve customers in China, Australia, Asia and the Middle East.