Extend your home with a conser vator y or oranger y and you’ll have a beautiful light-filled space to enjoy all year round
Bespoke glass conservatories and orangeries have a variety of uses in our busy homes – from kitchen extensions and entertaining spaces to offices and even gyms. What’s more, a stunning, well-designed room will add value to your property and maximise the natural flow of light and energy into your home. Glass is a sustainable, ‘cradle-to-cradle’ material, a product that can be indefinitely recycled and an environmentally friendly choice.
GLASS ROOM TRENDS
Historically designed to house and protect exotic plants, today’s conservatories, orangeries and contemporary frameless architectural glass ‘box’ designs have morphed into light-filled multifunctional spaces.
This is thanks, in part, to a longing to bring the outdoors in and link our gardens with our homes, which has increased since the pandemic. ‘As many people are spending more time at home and wanting a closer connection with the outdoors, glass rooms are becoming increasingly important,’ says Rebecca Clayton, communications director at IQ Glass.
With the current cost-of-living crisis, many homeowners are looking to improve rather than move. And as increasing numbers of young adults now live at home with their parents for longer, properties are having to expand. ‘More of our customers are adding a conservatory as a new dining room. It transforms their kitchen and living space, as well as creating a sociable environment for the whole family,’ says Rachael Munby from Anglian Home Improvements.
When it comes to design, conservatories and orangeries often feature typical traditional styles – popular designs that are built in wood, uPVC, aluminium and glass inspired by the Victorian, Georgian or Edwardian eras. But we’re also seeing more contemporary architectural glass extensions with oversized glazing, either with or without sleek aluminium structural bars as additions on all types of properties.
People are pushing the boundaries with glass. ‘We’ve noticed a trend for adding larger areas of glass to all property types,’ says Ryan Schofield, managing director at Thames Valley Windows. ‘Getting natural daylight into buildings is a key element of sustainable building design,’ he adds. ‘We spend most of our time inside our homes, so natural light is critical to our quality of life and wellbeing.’
ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY
With growing fears over climate change and in the race towards net zero emissions, recent building regulations (in place since June 2022) state that suppliers of c
