David Salisbury was specified to deliver a new orangery for St. Michael’s Manor Hotel, a Grade II* listed building, owned and run as a hotel by the Newling-Ward family since 1965.

The brief was to design a space that would integrate the interior dining area with a new orangery by opening the external wall and extending the dining room by an extra two and a half metres.

There was an existing ‘Machin style’ conservatory, which the client wanted removed replaced by a larger structure with proper insulation and that was more sympathetic to the host building.

The new orangery had to be designed in sympathy with the elegance of this charming and historic Georgian building, creating an environment from which the views across the garden could be fully appreciated. The client had previously visited one of our commercial orangery style restaurants> at the Phyllis Court Club at Henley-on-Thames and was impressed with the quality as well as the style and ambiance of the space created.

The client was clear that the new building had to be at least 7m deep (2.5m deeper than the existing structure) to add more covers and it was particularly important for them to be able to host wedding parties with more than one hundred guests.

Making the new extension much deeper than the old would require a complete rebuild, including new foundations and the walls that enclose the store room below. For peace of mind the client wanted a fully managed project that we call our turn-key service.