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We found evidence today that the conservatory industry is still struggling massively at the moment.

We searched on the Leeds Council website and found that last week, for the whole of Leeds and it’s encompassing areas, only 1 conservatory got passed. No matter what time of year it is, that is dire. Consumer confidence may be rising, but clearly not enough to drag the conservatory market out of the mire. Even RCG has recently admitted to me that the industry is in a seriously bad way.

Of course the other explanation could be that companies are putting up conservatories illegally, without planning permission. If that is the case, councils may be very busy in the future taking lots down. But I doubt that most companies aren’t that reckless as to put up a whole structure just to risk it being taken down again.

The next major hump in the road is going to be the revisions to Part L. It looks like conservatories are going to come under stricter energy efficiency regulations. The companies who aren’t tuned to fitting ‘C’ rated windows as a minimum now, are going to find it just has hard when it comes to the efficiency of conservatories.