Planning Permission For Orangeries

Find Out If You Will Need Planning Permission For Your Orangery?

In the majority of cases under present legislation you will not need planning permission for your orangery unless you are adding an orangery to a house which has already been extended. Or in some ‘new build’ properties the developer may have put restrictions on extending the property. In the unlikely event that you do need planning permission for your orangery we will take of it for you, making all the necessary arrangement with your local authority. Below is a summary of the basic facts regarding planning permission for orangeries.

Recent changes to legislation mean that many orangery designs that previously would have required planning permission no longer do. The following rules must be adhered to in order to remain exempt from planning permission.

• They are built at ground level and are less than 30 square metres in floor area.
• At least half of the new wall and three quarters of the roof is either glazed or translucent material.
• The orangery is separated from the house by external quality door(s).
• Glazing and any fixed electrical installations comply with the applicable building regulations requirements.

From 1st October 2008 new rules for orangeries and extensions took affect which replaced the old rules and affect orangeries as follows:

• No extension forward of the principal elevation or side elevation fronting a highway. This means that any orangery on the front or side of a house that will be closer to a public highway than the original house will need planning permission. A highway is any public right of way including footpaths. 
• Maximum depth of a single-storey rear extension of three metres for an attached house and four metres for a detached house. The width of a orangery running along the back length of a house is not constrained at all unless it projects beyond the house which is constrained by rule 3. A house is only detached if there is no solid structure connecting it to a neighbour. A "link" house is therefore not detached nor would be two houses with a common garage. The rules on what counts as being detached have not changed from the previous ones.
• Side extensions to be single storey with maximum height of four metres and width no more than half that of the original house.
• Maximum eaves height of an extension within two metres of the boundary of three metres from the lowest point on the ground.
• No verandas, balconies or raised platforms.
• On designated land no permitted development for rear extensions of more than one storey; no cladding of the exterior; no side extensions.
• No more than half the area of land around the "original house" would be covered by additions or other buildings.
• Maximum height of a single-storey rear extension of four metres.

While permitted development rights now allow for the construction of many Bespoke orangeries without planning permission items 1 and 2 above may still limit their size and material construction if you want to avoid building regulations. If a orangery you are building does not meet any of the above four rules then it will have to adhere to building regulations in full.

For further information on Planning Permission for your Orangery design contact us online or if you prefer, freephone 0800 915 8844

Please Note: the above Planning Permission & Building Regulations do not apply in Northern Ireland.  Please call for details.