Conservatories & Orangeries in Birmingham

Tell Windows and Doors Birmingham what you have in mind, and we'll arrange a free survey with a local installer, who visits, measures up and gives you a written quote.

Conservatory and Orangery Styles in Birmingham

Most quotes start from one of six shapes:

• Lean-to. One shallow slope running down from the house wall. It suits a bungalow or a terrace with little height under the upstairs windows.
• Victorian. A rounded, many-sided end with a pointed glazed top, which suits a round dining table.
• Edwardian. A square or rectangular plan, which leaves no awkward corners in the floor space.
• Gable. An Edwardian plan with an upright glazed front, which lets in more light and feels taller inside.
• P-shape. A lean-to and a Victorian joined into one, giving a wider house two zones, such as a dining end and a sitting end.
• Orangery. Brick piers, heavier framing and usually a glazed lantern set into a flat ceiling. It reads as part of the house rather than a glass box added to it.

Frames come in uPVC, aluminium or timber. A low brick wall under the frames gives a more solid look, while full-height glass suits a garden you want to see from the sofa.

Do You Need Planning Permission?

A conservatory on a house counts as a single-storey extension under Class A of the General Permitted Development Order. Within these limits it's permitted development:

• At the rear. Up to 3 m deep, or 4 m on a detached house, and no more than 4 m high. Going bigger, to 6 m or 8 m detached, is possible through prior approval, but not in a conservation area.
• Near a boundary. If any part sits within 2 m of a boundary, its eaves must not rise above 3 m.
• Coverage. No more than half the land around the original house can be covered.
• At the side. Single storey, no more than half the width of the original house, and none at all in a conservation area.
• Flats and maisonettes. No householder permitted development rights, so this route doesn't apply.

If the house is listed or in a conservation area, speak to the council first. Our guide to conservatory planning rules sets out each limit in more detail.

When a Conservatory Is Exempt from Building Regulations

A conservatory is exempt from most building regulations when it's built at ground level, has a floor area that does not exceed 30 m², has glazing that meets the Part K safety rules, keeps the wall, windows or doors separating it from the house, and the house's heating isn't extended into it.

Lose one of those and the exemption can go. Taking out the doors to make one open-plan room, or running the central heating through, brings the room under building control. A new structural opening in the house wall needs approval regardless. For certificates on the windows and doors around it, see building regulations.

Conservatory Roof Replacement

Plenty of older conservatories have a polycarbonate roof that has turned cloudy, drums in the rain, and leaves the room too hot in July and too cold in January. A new glass roof keeps the light. A solid roof, insulated and plastered inside, makes the room easier to use all year.

LABC, citing a 2013 government letter, says replacing it with a solid roof that significantly reduces the glazing can end the conservatory's exempt status, after which building regulations apply. Before you agree to one, ask the installer how the work will be signed off.

Estate Schemes in Edgbaston and Bournville

The Calthorpe Estate covers a large part of Edgbaston, and small areas of Harborne and Quinton. Its consent is needed in addition to planning permission, for freehold and leasehold homes alike. On conservatories, its residents' handbook says that "almost without exception" it will require the glazing "to mirror the window style and frame of the original property".

Bournville Village Trust asks for approval of external alterations even where the work is permitted development. In the Bournville Village Conservation Area, uPVC is "not permitted to the front and side elevations", and BVT's design guide applies that to conservatories as well as windows and doors. In its other zones uPVC is considered, and new conservatories must match the original house. BVT's own map shows which zone your street is in.

On either estate, get consent before you order. Made-to-measure conservatories usually can't be cancelled once ordered. See estate schemes for how each scheme works.

This is general information, not advice. Check your own plans with the council, building control and, where one applies, the estate office.

What Changes the Price

• Size and style. A small lean-to and a large orangery are very different jobs.
• The base. Groundwork and any low walls.
• Conservatory roof type. Glass, polycarbonate or solid.
• Frames and glass. uPVC, aluminium or timber, and the glazing specification.
• The opening into the house. A new structural opening adds work and building control.
• Removing an old conservatory first.
• Consents. Planning or estate applications add time.

Typical UK prices for each style sit in our guide to conservatory costs.

Getting a Quote

1. Call or send the form with the rough size, the style you like, and whether the house is on an estate scheme or in a conservation area. 2. A local installer arranges a free survey to measure up and look at the base. 3. You get a written quote to compare. You're under no obligation to accept it.

Read how to choose an installer before you sign.

Our scope. New conservatories, orangeries and conservatory roof replacements. Garden rooms and house extensions are separate trades, and we can't help with those.

Related Services

For the doorway onto the garden, see bifold, patio and French doors. If the house windows are due too, see uPVC windows and aluminium windows.

Areas We Cover

Sutton Coldfield, Solihull, Shirley, Hall Green, Northfield, Kings Norton and the rest of Birmingham and the surrounding towns. see all service areas