Conservatory vs orangery: which costs more?
A conservatory is the cheaper way to add a light-filled room, mostly glass on a low dwarf wall. An orangery costs more for a more solid structure that blends brick pillars with glass and a flat roof with a lantern, so it feels more like part of the house and stays comfortable across the year. Conservatory wins on cost; orangery on looks, insulation and year-round use.
Conservatory vs Orangery: the cost
| Option | Range | Typical | Priced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservatory | £5,000 to £35,000 | £14,000 | installed |
| Orangery | £15,000 to £60,000 | £25,000 | installed |
Costwise guide prices, reviewed June 2026, not quotes.
Conservatory vs Orangery: the difference
| Factor | How they compare |
|---|---|
| Typical cost | A conservatory is the cheaper option; an orangery costs more for its brickwork and roof lantern. |
| Structure | A conservatory is largely glass on a dwarf wall; an orangery has brick pillars and a flat perimeter roof with a lantern. |
| Year-round comfort | An orangery holds heat better and stays usable in winter; a lightweight conservatory can run hot or cold. |
| Best for | Conservatory: the most light for the least money. Orangery: a solid, year-round room that reads as part of the house. |
What makes an orangery an orangery
The two words get used loosely, so start with the build rather than the label. A conservatory is a glazed frame on a low dwarf wall, with a glass or solid-panel roof spanning the whole room. An orangery is closer to masonry: brick piers at the corners and between the glazed bays, a flat perimeter roof usually finished with a parapet, and a glass lantern set into the middle of it. Less glass, more wall, and a roof built on site rather than delivered as a kit.
That is where the extra trades come in. An orangery needs foundations carrying brickwork, a bricklayer, a flat roof deck, a lantern fitted into an opening formed for it, and an internal fit-out taken to match the rest of the house. A conservatory is groundwork, a base and a frame system assembled on site.
The word on the quote settles nothing on its own. The Building Regulations 2010 use the term conservatory in their exemptions but never define it, so what counts is how the room is built and how it joins the house. A build sold as an orangery can be a conservatory with a lantern set into a solid roof, which is why the top tier of our conservatory guide is an orangery-style one.
Where the extra money goes
The two overlap more than the headline figures suggest. The largest tier in our conservatory guide, for an orangery-style or large build, runs £20,000 to £35,000, and the small band in our orangery guide, up to about 12 square metres, starts at £15,000. Between roughly £15,000 and £35,000 you can buy either, and that band is where the naming gets slippery.
What separates them is the trades and the weeks on site: our guides put a conservatory at 2 to 5 weeks and an orangery at 4 to 10. Price the upgrades separately before you switch product. On a conservatory, a solid or tiled roof in place of glass adds £5,000 to £9,000. On an orangery, a lantern roof upgrade adds £2,000 to £6,000 and bi-fold or French doors £2,000 to £5,000. Both cost more in London and the South East, by around 15 to 25 per cent on a conservatory and 15 to 30 per cent on an orangery, mostly on labour.
Which one stays usable in winter
Glazing loses and gains heat faster than an insulated wall, so a mostly glazed room runs hot in summer and cold in winter. An orangery swaps a good share of that glazing for solid wall and a solid roof deck and leaves the lantern to do the light, which is why it holds a temperature better.
The rules in England push the same way. A conservatory only stays outside the energy efficiency requirements while it is genuinely separate from the house: the wall, door or window between the two is kept in place or replaced, the heating system of the house is not extended into it, and it has no fixed heating appliance of its own. The conditions that keep a conservatory cheap are the same conditions that leave it unheated and shut off. Take the separating doors out or run the heating in and it is treated as an extension, whatever the quote calls it, with the full thermal standards to meet. That is the real choice behind the price gap.
Planning permission and building regulations
For planning in England they are treated the same. Both are an enlargement of the house under Class A of the permitted development rules, so the same limits apply: a single-storey rear extension no more than 4 metres beyond the original rear wall on a detached house or 3 metres on any other house, no more than 4 metres high, eaves no higher than 3 metres where it comes within 2 metres of a boundary, and everything built in the grounds other than the original house covering no more than half of them. A deeper single-storey rear extension, up to 8 metres on a detached house or 6 metres otherwise, is possible on most houses away from designated land, but it needs prior approval from the council first. Conservation areas, national parks and other article 2(3) land are tighter, and a flat, a listed building or an article 4 direction changes the position altogether.
There is one real planning difference. Class A requires the materials used in exterior work to be of a similar appearance to the existing house, and it exempts materials used in building a conservatory. An orangery's brickwork and parapet get judged on how well they match.
Building regulations are a separate question from planning. Class 7 of Schedule 2 to the Building Regulations 2010 exempts a conservatory or porch added at ground level where the floor area is no greater than 30 square metres and the glazing meets the safety requirements. Above 30 square metres there is no exemption, and even below it, opening the room up to the house or heating it brings the energy efficiency requirements back.
Which one to choose
Below about £15,000 there is no decision to make. Our orangery range does not start until £15,000, so it is a conservatory, and £5,000 to £10,000 buys a small lean-to.
Between £15,000 and £25,000, compare like for like. A typical £14,000 conservatory plus a solid or tiled roof at £5,000 to £9,000 is roughly £19,000 to £23,000 on our figures, and our conservatory guide puts a solid-roof build at £20,000 to £25,000 once size is allowed for. Against that, a small orangery of up to about 12 square metres is £15,000 to £25,000. The conservatory buys more floor area for the money; the orangery buys a room that reads as built in rather than added on.
Above £25,000, an orangery earns its money if you want that permanence, but check the extension figures first. A 15 square metre orangery sits in our £25,000 to £40,000 band, where a single-storey extension of the same size at £2,000 to £3,200 per square metre works out at £30,000 to £48,000 before design and structural fees, and takes 10 to 16 weeks rather than 4 to 10.
Common questions
Yes. An orangery costs more than a conservatory of similar size because it uses brick pillars, a more substantial flat roof with a glazed lantern and better insulation, where a conservatory is mostly glazing on a low wall. You pay more for a room that feels more like a permanent extension and stays comfortable through the year.
A conservatory is predominantly glass, walls and roof, on a low dwarf wall, so it is light and cheaper but can run hot in summer and cold in winter. An orangery has more brick, solid pillars and a flat perimeter roof around a central glazed lantern, so it is warmer, more solid and closer to a standard extension in feel.
Only part way. The usual route is swapping a glass roof for a solid one with a lantern, and on a new build our conservatory guide puts that roof choice at £5,000 to £9,000. A retrofit has to be quoted on its own, because it depends on what the existing frames and base can carry, and our conservatory guide notes that a solid roof usually needs building control sign-off for the extra weight. The part you cannot simply add is the brickwork: brick piers and a parapet need foundations sized for the load, which a conservatory base was not necessarily built for, so that is a question for a structural engineer rather than a salesperson. Check the effect on the building regulations exemption too, because opening the room up to the house or heating it brings the energy efficiency requirements back.
Assume yes. The exemption in Class 7 of Schedule 2 to the Building Regulations 2010 is written for a conservatory or porch added at ground level, and it applies only where the floor area is no greater than 30 square metres and the glazing meets the safety requirements. An orangery above 30 square metres is outside it, and one that is open to the house, or heated from the house's system, has to meet the energy efficiency requirements in any case. Treat approval and full thermal standards as part of the job unless your installer can show you in writing why the exemption applies to your build.
No. In England, planning treats both as an enlargement of the house under the same permitted development rules, so a conservatory gets no easier ride: both are permitted development within the Class A limits, and both need an application beyond them, assuming the house still has its permitted development rights. The single difference is materials. Class A requires the materials used in exterior work to be of a similar appearance to the existing house and specifically exempts materials used in building a conservatory, so an orangery's brick and parapet are judged on how well they match while conservatory frames are not.
Roughly twice as long. Our guides put a conservatory at 2 to 5 weeks and an orangery at 4 to 10 weeks on site. The difference is the masonry and the roof: foundations and brick piers have to be built and left to cure before the glazing and the flat roof deck go on, where a conservatory frame arrives as a kit and is assembled once the base is ready. Both figures are time on site, so ask for the lead time for design, survey and manufacture as well.
An orangery tends to pay back better, though neither reliably returns what it cost. Our orangery guide puts it as living space that helps a sale while most buyers still value it below what you paid, and our conservatory guide is blunter: buyers often value a conservatory below the £5,000 to £35,000 it cost, and a cheap or dated one can put people off. The difference is the one that drives the price gap, since an orangery is heated and finished like the rest of the house while a glazed room that is uncomfortable for part of the year counts for less. Build either for the room you will use rather than as an investment, and be wary of an installer who quotes you a percentage uplift, because nobody can promise one.
These are independent guide prices based on typical UK jobs in 2026. Your actual cost depends on your property, spec, access and where you live. Always get at least three written quotes before committing.