Some Construction Views

We were approached by the clients architects to take forward their approved planning scheme and turn it into reality as part of a major refurbishment of their wonderful home with commanding views across the Northamptonshire countryside. The orangery is a very large building being 10.6m square on plan and over10m from ground to top of finial which is nearly 1m tall. Built from a combination of Stamford Stone, painted hardwood, steel and aluminium and being fully double glazed throughout. The curved bars were specially designed by me and were extruded out of aluminium which was then bent to a specific radius. The large steel beams were also bent to the same radius and these form the main support for the huge 6m square roof lantern. Each huge curved sealed unit weighed 65kg and had to be lifted into place by crane which took just over 2 weeks. Outside is solid stone but inside the columns are timber and have been painted by a specialist to mimic the stone - you have to tap it to know it's wood! To put things in perspective each fanlight in the roof lantern is the size of a normal house door! Hidden within the columns is a steel portal frame all out of sight. The valleys, where it connects to the house with the wonderful balcony, and the hips are elliptical which caused a lot of head scratching but worked beautifully. This is truly a wonderful but complicated building in a wonderful location with very understanding clients and great use of our 35 years experience on these buildings.