The structural and finishing costs that separate an orangery quote from a conservatory quote.
An orangery sits between a conservatory and an extension: substantial masonry piers, a flat perimeter roof with a glazed lantern, and an internal finish closer to a room than a garden space.
That specification is where the extra cost lives. This guide breaks it into parts so you can decide which elements matter to you and which you can simplify.
Compared with a conservatory of the same footprint, these are the lines that grow:
If you want light and space and you are content with a glazed or solid conservatory roof, a well-specified conservatory can deliver most of the benefit for meaningfully less.
Orangeries earn their premium when the space is genuinely a room — used year round, opened into the house, and finished to match the rest of the property.
Check whether each quote includes the internal plastering, floor finish, electrics, heating and any structural opening. These are the items most often left out of a headline figure and they are not small.
Bring us your rough footprint and how you want to use the room, and we'll price the options honestly.
Generally yes, because much of the envelope is glazed and prefabricated rather than built and finished on site — but the gap narrows the more you specify a full room finish.
It depends on the size, the glazing proportion and whether it is thermally separated from the house. Any structural opening into the house will involve building control. We'll flag the requirements at survey.
Yes, if it's planned in from the start — retrofitting it later means lifting the floor.