Blog & Projects

Do You Need Planning Permission for a Glass Box Extension?

A practical guide to permitted development rules for glass extensions — size limits, height, boundary distances, the neighbour consultation scheme and Article 4 directions, with a North West nudge to check local rules.

Glass Box, Bowdon, Cheshire

A black-framed glass box in Bowdon, Cheshire — glass roof, corner glazing and wide Cortizo sliding doors set against warm brick.

The Future Homes Standard and Your Glazing Spec: What Changes from 24 March 2027

A plain summary of the 2027 Part L changes as they affect windows, doors, rooflights and glazed extensions — dates, transitional rules, the numbers that moved and the ones that didn't, and what to do on live projects now.

Part O Glazing Limits in the North West: How Much Glass Can a New Home Have?

Part O caps the glazed area of every new home room by room, by orientation and ventilation. The moderate-risk figures for Liverpool, Manchester and the North West, what happens when a design exceeds them, and how to keep the big glass.

Whole-Window U-Values: Why the 2027 Rules Count the Frame, Not Just the Glass

From 24 March 2027 every window on a new home must be calculated at its real size with every frame component included. What changes, who it catches, and how steel, aluminium and structural glass get to 1.2 W/m²K.

Structural Glass on Period Homes: Georgian, Victorian and Stone Houses Across the North West

Most of the houses we glaze are old. Georgian terraces in Liverpool, Victorian villas in Cheshire and South Manchester, stone farmhouses in Lancashire and the Dales. Here is why structural glass tends to be the extension that gets approved on a period home, and how the old wall and the new glass are made to meet.

From Survey to Sign-Off: How a Structural Glazing Project Runs in the North West

People planning a glass box, link or corridor usually want to know two things: how long it takes and what happens in between. This is the sequence every one of our North West projects follows, from the first site visit in Cheshire, Lancashire or Merseyside to the day the glass goes in.

Structural Glazing and Thermal Performance: Keeping a Glass Room Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer

The two worries every client raises about a glass room are that it will be freezing in winter and a greenhouse in summer. Both used to be true. Here is how modern structural glazing is specified so that neither is — and what we watch for on North West projects in particular.

Glass Box Extensions in Manchester: Red Brick, Victorian Terraces and Frameless Glass

Manchester's housing stock — red-brick Victorian terraces and villas, Edwardian semis in Didsbury, Chorlton, Sale and Altrincham — is almost ideal for a frameless glass box. Here is why, and the three practical issues that come up on nearly every Manchester project.