Listed lean-to in Bury St Edmunds

It took a couple of attempts before we settled on this design for the greenhouse.  My customers weren’t sure which side to have the door.... and I really didn’t want the span to be 3m or more  as the supporting structure gets so complicated (and costly). 


I think this design does everything.

I’ll be building all the rafters from 4x2 timber rather than the normal 2x2.  It’s going to be a tough/robust/chunky but classy greenhouse.

That wall you see there is listed - that tree behind it...you need written permission to cut off a branch - so you can imagine the paperwork in getting a greenhouse built.  My customers asked the planning officer if they could build a Green Bug greenhouse before even buying the property....! 

I’d better make a good job of this one then.

So above I’ve marked out the footprint for the new greenhouse and loaded all the materials around it.We’ve got to use a very specific blend of two bricks to give a gentle varied pattern of colour and use white/lime mortar to match the traditional construction materials here. 

Next job to level off that interior floor. 

I dig that all out, lay aggregate and weedblock sheeting, flag out the interior and lay gravel to the sides to allow a place for pots and washing down.

The top couple of inches of soil were good with a nice lot of small worms - so I saved that for the raised bed inside.

It’s great to get to this point of the build where everything is tidy again and you can see what you are getting for your money.

The size of this greenhouse seems just right for this space too.

The council want the greenhouse to be an obviously new / quite distinct addition to the wall but to have the materials and design to be traditional.

I’m really looking forward to seeing how the whole structure looks when I return to fit the bespoke, lean-to greenhouse to those walls.


Next week - in the workshop then back down to Woking...