Frequently Asked Questions

An orangery is a luxury home extension, usually built from brick or stone featuring the elevation frames in Timber, Aluminium, or PVCu. The main feature of an orangery it will have a glass lantern to let in more light. An orangery is the number one first choice for an extension.

You will need planning consent if the orangery is located in a conservation area or is to be built on a listed building. In many cases, if building directly onto the back of a home, and the orangery is not too large, you will not need planning.

A conservatory is a glass structure with a glass roof. At this time as long as a conservatory is under 30 square metres it is not required to comply with building regulations although it should. An orangery is a high-quality extension and features a structural roof within most cases featuring a glass lantern.

The simple answer to this is no, its much more expensive due to the more complex build and the type of materials selected.

A Conservatory is an all-glass structure and even if you use the best insulating glass, it is a cooler building than an orangery more likely to be affected by the cold winters and hot summers. An orangery has a small lantern glass roof usually centralised to the centre of the new extension where the flat ceiling is fully insulated with virtually no heat loss.

Generally, an orangery is the most expensive extension to build. This is usually due to the complex roof design and glass lantern. The choice of elevation frames and the wide choice of doors from sliding doors, bi folding doors, or French doors affect cost. Subject to the choice of company you choose to build your orangery the foundations will be similar to a standard extension, the difference in cost will vary on the structural works required and materials selected, hardwoods and aluminium materials being the most expensive. An orangery extension of say around 20 square metres expect quotations to vary for a turnkey build including all building works, permissions, and choice of materials to widely vary from £40,000 at the entry level up to £100,000 for a luxury high specification orangery including Vat.

No orangeries like any room will need heating but will be cool in summer and retain the heat in winter. An orangery is an all-year-round extension.

There are cheap orangery imitations that offer that facility and look but will have the same heating issues as a conservatory. If a conservatory was build with foundations that are not compliant to building regulations the answer is no. The old foundations would need to be removed, and you would need to include demolition to build a new orangery in a similar location. This is the case 90% of the time.

An orangery is classed as the number one home extension. In all cases built correctly an orangery adds more value to your home and on high value luxury properties an orangery could in many cases double the investment or more.

An orangery of 20 square metres, for example, after all necessary permissions are granted, would take an efficient installer approximately 3 weeks to create the foundations that comply with building regulations. Or 15 working days. The installation team building the main structure would probably take 20 working days. Then you have to add in plastering and finished screed and second fix electrics so you would need to add in another 6 working days to completion. If you are adding underfloor heating, you have to wait for the foundations to dry out before adding finished flooring.

An orangery is classed as an extension.

An orangery is classed as an extension so will need building regulations.