Blenheim Palace Orangery

Blenheim palace - orangery roof

In January 2023 work began at Blenheim Palace on the ambitious project of removing the existing 19th Century glass ceiling and re-building the roof as closely as possible to its original slate form. To the best of anyone’s knowledge this is the first time this type of restoration has been undertaken on a Grade 𝐈 listed building, so the magnitude and complexities of this task can’t be underestimated.

At Unity Lime we are absolutely delighted to have played our part in this incredible endeavour by advising on the specification and supplying the insulation to the palace. We supply materials to all sizes of restoration, retro-fit and new build projects, but it doesn’t get much more prestigious than supplying materials for a palace which also happens to be birthplace of Winston Churchill!
Work began in January 2023 and the insulation phase of this project was completed in late July/early August 2023. The roof insulation consists of Pavatherm and Isolair Multi boards. The Isolair was used between the rafters, with Pavatherm below. Another layer of Isolair was then added to finalize the build-up.

As always, both our sales and in house technical team (Inclusive of a Chartered Architectural Technologist) were able to liaise with the site manager and offer complete support throughout the installation. One of the things we pride ourselves on at Unity Lime is our ability and willingness to offer technical support to our customers throughout their project, however big or small it may be.

Further to Unity Lime simply supplying products for use, we also have genuine shared ethical values with the palace estate. Their CEO is on record as being committed to reducing carbon emissions and has taken steps in recent years to achieve this across all areas of the operation of the site. They have also pledged to continue along the path to a ‘greener future’ by converting to electric cars and LED lighting and of course insulating roofs across the estate. The use of Pavatex insulation on the orangery roof is a fantastic choice as not only does this product give amazing thermal performance, leading to less energy use, but is also a sustainably sourced wood fibre insulation.

Reducing embodied carbon is something we are passionate about and this project was so close to our door that the opportunity to supply a local business with sustainable building materials is a perfect situation for us.

Approximately 9 months after work began in January, Blenheim Palace announced in October 2023, that the orangery roof was complete and the building ready to be re-opened to the public. The project was a total success and we are pleased to have played our part in it.