Uprating glazing for Building Regs Approval?

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I have a small quadrant victorian conservatory that was built in double glazed uPVC about 19 years ago. Access to it is from its own door from the outside and the original house back door from the inside. The conservatory is small, 2.1m on the full walls adjoining the house.
See photo and snapshot from the plan below.

It currently serves as a dumping ground for wellies, cat's feeding etc. It was built with a low dwarf cavity wall, insulated I think, 22mm gap double glazing and triple polycarbonate roof.

I now want, using a builder and complying with building control requirements, to open up to extend the house into the conservatory by removing the inner back door and some of the wall around it. Due to the lack of heating and current build spec, it is weatherproof but not heat efficient as would be required, it is noticeably cooler than the adjoining house room.

I understand that because of the large glass area and roof material, if the conservatory is now to be opened up as part of the house, building control may insist on uprated glass - triple and/or K energy reflective glass as well as triple glazed roof panels.

Does this sound doable, or will the existing conservatory not upgrade sufficiently to comply with current building regs requirements? I would rather not have to take it down and rebuild it!?

Any advice welcomed.
Thanks
 

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Upgrading the glazing is unlikely to achieve compliance.
You wouls need to get an SAP calculation done for the whole house, to show that its carbon emissions are no worse with the conservatory opened up, than they are at present.
This woud almost certainly entail installing energy-saving measures elsewhere in the house, such as extra insulation, new boiler etc. Could be expensive.
 
Thanks for a prompt response. I know that building regs have tightened up over the years wrt heat/energy. This time last year I had looked at a complete rebuild of the conservatory area as a new extension to make it a more integral part of the back of the house. That was shelved because at 2015 Oxford building costs, you don’t get much for £30-40k, my then budget.

Bi-fold Doors? - Would a simpler approach to this be if it is opened up but not on a permanent basis? If quality bi-fold doors are used they could be opened and then closed when not required – which could be very rarely. But this possibly gets around the conservatory becoming a permanent part of the house.

However, I also understand that it isn’t just ‘getting around’ the building regs. Who would want to have a cold spot from the conservatory in the house as a permanent living space when it draws the heat from the rest of the home?

Builder - I have an excellent builder who is quite switched on to all this, but I am also wary of asking him to suggest and decide too much, even if he is Ok to do so. He will be doing some wall removal and opening up for me in another part of the house for which I know I will need building control approval and structural engineer input. I had hoped to combine this opening up and upgrading of the conservatory with the other work to ensure that it is all done in one hit.

Architect? - Maybe I should get an architect, but I feel there is very little design work that warrants an architect and that other professionals could not do or are best suited to do?

Building Control - I could I suppose also or instead first speak with building control on an informal basis for advice? Perhaps just the drawing and photo I posted here would suffice as a starter for discussions?

All input from you guys at DIYnot is much appreciated.

Thanks
 

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