Kitchen Extension Conservatory - Are they legal?

Some homeowners consider building a conservatory extension onto the existing kitchen area and then simply knocking though and opening up one area into the other. This is, in most cases, illegal building works and you run the risk of prosecution or remedial works to rectify the situation.

The reason is that most conservatories are exempt from Building Regulations so homeowners like the fact that they can be built more cheaply without the ‘inspector’ looking over your shoulder. In other words corners can be cut and it appears to be a quick six solution for adding extra space to a kitchen.

This is usually very wrong and most conservatories simply bolted onto the back of a kitchen end up being unusable or very poor quality space. One of the requirements for a conservatory to be exempt from Building Regulations is that they must be separated from the main habitable rooms of the main dwelling by external type glazing and doors.

However, another form of highly glazed kitchen extension using standard construction methods for the walls and roof can produce a very highly desirable space that is very suitable for a kitchen extension. This form of extension will add value to a property where a cheaply erected conservatory kitchen extension will serve as no real practical space other than for odd times during the year when it is not overheating, bleaching the furniture, or freezing cold in the winter.

Most kitchen extensions that have used a conservatory to add space are usually removed by the next home owner who replaces the structure with a more purposeful and better designed true house extension using more robust and long terms methods of construction.