Building a Balcony

A Swiss Chalet in Yorkshire
(Image credit: Jeremy Phillips)

Not every self-builder can run to the expense of the balcony on a new 300m² contemporary-style self-build house in Gloucester­shire, where the cantilevered struc­ture is 15 metres long, curved, and entirely constructed from glass and steel. However there is a case, even in our climate, for a balcony on many self-build homes and ren­ova­tions, either as part of the main house, on a flat roof or as a bolt-on structure.

“One of the biggest changes I have seen in the design of quality bespoke houses in the past 10-15 years is the number that now sport balconies,” says architect John Thompson, of the Bristol-based Barlow Henley practice, whose own house, with its long timber bal­cony at the rear of the building, has featured in H&R. “People are coming to realise that our climate is far better than that of the Scandinavian countries, where such a high proportion of new houses have balconies.”

Clive Fewins has been an author and journalist for nearly four decades. He specialises in writing about building conservation and period homes and buildings.

He has written for The Guardian, The Times, The Financial Times, The Independent, The Telegraph, The Mirror, The Evening Standard, Old House Journal, The Building Conservation Directory, Country Living, Country Life, English Heritage Magazine, In Britain, Listed Heritage, Thatched Living, Period Living as well as Homebuilding and Renovating.