In this post, we’ll run though the options and costs that make up your investment in a modern Winter Garden extension. Whilst it is important to understand how to budget for your glass room, it is also important to plan for and maximise the increase in value of your home.
It is vital that you plan the additional living space correctly as often your glass extension will become a focal point for your family and the ‘hub’ of your home, the space where you’ll spend most of the time. And most importantly ensuring that the new extension adds that real ‘wow’ factor to your home.
When we are asked ‘What does an aluminium conservatory or Winter Garden cost?’ our answer depends on several factors that can be grouped into 4 main areas of work/specialism,
Winter Garden or Aluminium Conservatory Structure
· How big is the Winter Garden conservatory?
· What is the style and detailing?
· How many opening elements there are?
· Any special glass requirements, such as triple glazing, solar control, self-clean glass
Construction Costs
· Construction of the insulated base and DPM
· Block and brick walls, such as flank walls
· Property related requirements such as creating openings to the conservatory
· Plastering external walls that are now the interior, and any new walls
· Lead flashing
· Electrics, power, lighting, and heating
· External drainage, connecting rainwater discharge
Final Finishes
· Carpentry, such as skirting boards, architrave, cornice as needed
· Internal decoration, painting walls and 2nd fix carpentry and laying flooring
Professional Fees and Application Costs
· Planning application charges and fees to prepare drawings and the required documents
· Building regulation application charges and fees to prepare drawings and specification details
· Structural engineer fees to calculate load bearing foundations and structural steels for openings if required
It’s quite a comprehensive list and not exhausted by any means.
Winter Garden Costs
Aluminium Winter Garden conservatories are similar in cost to a high-quality hardwood conservatory. Providing structural stability, weather, and thermal performance standards, the difference is mainly in the modern overall look and design.
Winter Gardens generally have an entirely glazed roof, set on straight forward window and bi-folding or sliding door frames, and often have automatic roof vents and external awnings. Costs are somewhere between £2500/m2 for simple roof version to £3500/m2 at the top end, depending on the complexity of design, detail and specifications, awnings etc and excluding the building works.
The Price of Winter Garden Construction and other Works including wall foundations, insulated slab base, blockwork & brickwork, underfloor heating, power and lighting points, screed, connection to existing rainwater drainage, plastering internal walls is approximately £750 to £1000/m2.
For paint finish to the internal walls, tiled floor finish allow £120 to £150/m2.
Professional Fees; £900 for householder planning application to over £2,000 for complex listed buildings planning application. £300 for building regulation notice to over £1,500 for off plan application. £300 per structural calculation (e.g. steel beam to create opening).
Other Design/Cost considerations for your Winter Garden Conservatory:
Obviously the larger your Winter Garden is, the more it will cost though there are economies of scale. Super large structures, for example spanning swimming pools, may require additional structural steel framing, which will in fact increase the overall per m2 cost.
The more complex the design of a product, the more windows and doors, the shape of the roof and the amount of period detail the more involved the manufacturing process and installation, and therefore, the more it will cost.
If your Winter Garden extension sits in a corner, it will only have two sides instead of three (or four), thus reducing the cost. The more complex the design of a Winter Garden roof, the more it will cost. The least costly roof is a lean-to mono-pitch or even reverse pitch design. Designs that have hips, valleys, gables and so on can double the cost of the roof.
Creating a Cool in Summer and Warm in Winter Environment
In many cases, your Winter Garden is an open plan extension to your home, and it is essential the space is comfortable day or night, all the year around, neither too hot nor to cold. This is where our designers can help you achieve the perfect environment. It’s not a case of just using Solar Control Glass as the norm, nor having blinds and air conditioning everywhere.
Modern thinking in contemporary architecture is to use as much glass as possible, in a clever way so that the suns energy heats the space in winter and by use of openings and shadings the space is fresh and cooler in summer. It’s known as a Bio-climatic space, and the Winter Garden is the perfect space to start to achieve this healthy environment.
We will look at the positioning of your extension, work out how to allow the suns radiation to heat your space in winter, and conversely how to allow fresh, cooling air in summer with the right choice of external awning shading to compensate for the hottest of days.
Our Service
We hope this short guide has given you some help in understanding how tricky it is to answer, ‘How much does an aluminium conservatory or Winter Garden cost?’ This is however where our expert designers can step in to help you out. We will understand why you want the Winter Garden, what use you and your family want to get out of it, what is your sense of style and guide you on what the appropriate design options are. We can roughly work out costs and adjust the scheme before going away and creating a stunning design that will present you with the WOW factor, hopefully surpassing even the highest of expectations.
If you need help to decide on which is the best solution for you and to meet your budget contact us and speak to one of our experts who would love to help you out.
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