To ask you about conservatory

It actually says " part conservatory " so not an official conservatory on the sense for the different building regulations. And I think it looks better than a traditional conservatory and heating would be different. Maybe continuous underfloor heating? But it would mean proper building regulations. If this is what you want then go for it but I understand why builders are not doing it in the way you want. As it won't be as cheap and more hoops to jump through.

You need to have a lockable door between a conservatory and the main house and then you can have it under building control. If you want open plan as in the photos of this house @LolleePop then you'd need to apply for planning permission. You could have a look online at the areas planning portal and see if you can find the application for this house and see just what they applied for.
As for a price, then I'd say anywhere between & £1000 and £100,000. There are too many variables for people online to tell you that.

Our current house has a conservatory with no door OP. We bought it like that 20+ years ago. We loved it as it adjoined to the study and made a great playroom for our girls (now adults). However it did get very hot in summer and cold in winter. Polycarbonate roof so yes noisy when it rained but I rather liked that! We had heavy curtains put up which helped enormously with the noise and containing the heat/cold.

3 months ago we put a proper insulated roof on. Best thing we've ever done to the house! Wish we'd done it years ago! Was bloody expensive though.

Our conservatory had a standard plastic roof. As others have said. Too cold, too hot and when it rained it was noisy, so ended up being a bit of a dumping ground, and occasional gym (well we had a crosstrainer in there. We had the old glass and plastic walls replaced with new similar, and an insulated tiled roof. We were going to remove the d glazed doors from the house, and put in a radiator connected to our central heating, but it would then become a part of the house, and would have needed extra consent, and may have increased valuation for council tax. So we put in a wall mounted leccy radiator, and kept the doors. It is now our favourite room, easy to heat up in the winter, it does get hot in the summer, but not unbearable, and we can control the heat by opening a window. We have a friend who has a massive conservatory with the walls out. Looks good, but his heating bill is horrific.

We had a fab one put in 20 years ago.
Enormous insulation put in under the reclaimed flooring that we laid at great time and expense to match our older house.
We went with triple glazed glass for it too.
We put full heating via double radiators from our gas system and the room 13x16 is a very comfortable room in winter.
It can go many weeks unused in winter but after 20 years there is zero damp etc.
All down to the floor insulation apparently.

That is what I would describe as a "lean too" ...not a conservatory.

Do you know anyone with a conservatory? Would they have another? One of my biggest regrets. Now saving up for 3rd version, but this time properly done with proper builders. Costing more as being done 'properly'. Previous incarnations had mega heat, mega cold in winter, deafening with only a light shower. Now leaks, so we are biting the bullet to have a proper extension. But we could have had a palace for the amount we have spent in the past. Without doors separating from sitting room life would have been intolerable for past 25 years.
Either have an extension, or don't bother with anything and save the stress.

Building regs are really strict re an extension. You have to work out your overall u value and look at size of glazing, insulation in floor and walls etc. All glazing to be 1.4 or 1.2 or lower. The foundations hafe to have deep footings. The roof needs 3 ply ceiling. With insulation. You have to complete with cavity drip trays and also the disposal of run off water. The walls have to be packed with insulation. And the floor needs at least 100 mm PIR.

Or you get a conservatory and keep the external doors on and separate from the house.

Ours had a steeply sloping glass roof (4m+), rain noise was minimal and never obtrusive.

my friend had an extension around 4yrs ago and she had her conservatory doors removed and it became part of her kitchen so all open plan. She did have a proper roof installed on it though and it was a half brick / half glass conservatory to start with

It will surely depend on your roof. If you have glazing for any other hard plastic surface, the noise is defending. I work in my conservatory between May and November and I have to move to my dining room of it rains. I can't hear what the person on the other end of a line is saying even with headset on. My friend has solid roof over hers and it's fine just like any other room in the house.

@Ivyy Yes it counted as an extension even though the building was already there, we needed building regs and also a party wall agreement as we were on the boundary - which did seem bizarre when there was already a structure there and we did the same size! Didn’t need planning permission though. It was worth doing, it’s just amazing having a usable space year round!

I love my conservatory. It has one high wall that gives privacy from our neighbours. It has a door from the kitchen and the old french doors that used to lead from the living room to the garden. It has my dining table, a sofa and drinks cabinet. It's my favourite room as it overlooks my garden. I prefer to do my marking etc in here. I have a wall heater and heat reducing blinds for summer which really do help. I wouldn't be without it.

Nope,same as yours by the sounds of it.

@FluffyDiplodocus this sounds a bit like what we want to do, but have a double glazed sliding lockable door that separates the kitchen from the conservatory.

We have one solid all-brick wall to the left of the internal doors, with an actual proper extension room on the other side of it that we use as an office to wfh. That extension was originally used as a playroom by previous owners and was joined to the lounge / dining area.

The other walls in the conservatory are brick from the ground, a few feet high then all double glazed windows above that. It has a upvc back door to the garden and then a very rubbish plastic roof. There a central heating radiator in there too, and for the life is us we can't understand why the previous owners didn't just have a proper extension like the room on the other side of the wall that we use as an office. I guess at the time conservatories were very in. It probably took some time living with it to realise the thin plastic roof made it too hot or cold to use most of the year! We've got the original design plans they left and it was always going to be the cheapy plastic roof. If only they'd had a proper roof instead!

The kitchen the conservatory's joined on to
is a very small galley kitchen and we'd love to remove the sliding doors, and open the kitchen out into the conservatory, have a completely new kitchen that extends into the current conservatory space, and have a space for a sofa, TV etc as well.

Am I right in thinking this would need building regs and be classed as an extension, even though the conservatory space is already there? We'd love to put a proper roof on and patio / bifold doors too, and put the space to use as an extended kitchen in the future

It’s more of a lean-to.

To be that noisy I presume it has a shallow slope?

Our conservatory was beautiful and really opened up the ground floor, there were doors between the original house and the conservatory but they were rarely (if ever?) closed.
Very tall (at over 4m high, full PP was required), the glass roof was heavily sloped so maybe that is why rain was rarely heard? Brick wall down one side, dwarf walls on other two, fully heated, roof blinds, furnished with a sofa, chairs & table it was usable 365 days of the year and believe me, it was.
Nothing nicer than on a clear night than opening the roof blinds, laying back on the sofa and watching the stars or on a stormy night, the lightening. The Dcats & Ddog loved it for looking down the garden at the birds, squirrels and (occasional) muntjac, usually the Dcats were on the windowsills and Ddog on the back of the sofa.

It's like many things, a cheap conservatory added onto the back of a house to create immediate space cannot be compared with a purpose designed and well built one.

That's not a conservatory.

It doesn't pass building regs as conservatories are awful
At heat loss so it makes the house less efficient if you can't shut it off with a door. You can google the exact part of the buildings regs but that's why you should have a doos. Plus from experience trust me you want a door. They are freezing in winter and you will want to close it off from your home they loose heat like you wouldn't believe you won't be able to heat the room it's connected to if it's open plan 😬

I read recently that conservatories can now actually reduce the value of the house because they have so fallen out of favour. Freezing in winter and way too hot when we get a heat wave.

Having said that my sister used to have a lovely one that they could use like an extra room in the house all year round. However, I think they spent quite a lot on it and it was heated.

I just came on to say this. She has a very detailed explanation of how she got her conservatory to look like an extension. It really is lovely too.

That's not a conservatory, it's an orangery, more wall than glass and the planning is different

My glass roof was a fortune ,it's still noisy when it rains hard.

I guess from when some people had cheap plastic panels for the roof?
A proper glass roof is not noisy at all.

Ours is noisy in the rain.