Commercial Buildings All About Return On Investment

Whilst David Salisbury has gained an enviable reputation over the years as the market leading designer and manufacturer of quality timber orangeries and garden rooms, we have also been busy continuing to develop our expertise in working with commercial building projects – with return on investment (ROI) a recurring theme.

From adding orangeries to extend hotels or restaurants through to the window & door replacement for the world renown Cliveden Spa, our portfolio now includes a significant number of marquee projects.

cliveden spa timber joinery refurbishment

Of course, there are different reasons to consider adding a timber framed extension, such as an orangery or conservatory, to a commercial property, but the main factor for any business concerns return on investment.

Take the example of our most recently completed commercial project and certainly the closest site to our factory, being less than 3 miles away: the new oak orangery for the well-known Brent House. The new extension has replaced a much smaller, older conservatory and has created space for plenty of additional seating, allowing significantly more covers to be served during busy lunch and evening meals times – which is pretty much every day at Brent House!

In a similar vein, the owners of the boutique Old Rectory Hotel in North Devon, decided to engage David Salisbury to design and install and a new orangery to replace an ageing lean-to conservatory. As the owner of the hotel, Huw Rees, told us, the “[investment in the orangery]…has allowed us to open up all three of our new suites. The increase in business we’re already seeing will pay for the orangery within three to four years.”

Our brief to design an orangery extension for the Grade II listed St Michael’s Manor hotel in Hertfordshire was specifically to allow more covers to be served in their restaurant and to be able to host wedding parties with more than one hundred guests. Working in sympathy with the architecture of this historic property, once again David Salisbury’s expertise in successfully working with Listed Buildings was vital.

Similarly the orangery and garden room projects we undertook at Phyllis Court, an exclusive private member’s club on the banks of the Thames at Henley, were completed to tight timescales, whilst the club remained open to members. Club Secretary and Director Graham Owen commented: “All the projects [with David Salisbury] can be seen to have been an excellent investment in the club.”

With the start of The Open this week, the world’s oldest golf tournament, it was a good time to reflect on the orangery extension we designed for Trefloyne Manor, with its views over the 18^th green and surrounding golf course. Extending the existing restaurant and creating a much enhanced venue for weddings and private parties, was another good example of a commercial brief more than fulfilled.

Of course, we couldn’t write an article about our most notable commercial projects without highlighting our work at the prestigious Cliveden Spa. A two phase project, the first part involved the complete replacement of the timber windows and doors around the swimming pool area. The second phase saw David Salisbury design a glazed, covered walkway, providing year round sheltered access to the spa area.

Another relatively local project, completed earlier this year and with a similarly pronounced name, was a substantial orangery extension for Clevedon Hall to create a large wedding venue. As the photos here show, this is another eye-catching project that we’re extremely proud of.

bespoke wedding orangery for Clevedon Hall

The recent completion of Brent House project was, at the time of order, our largest ever individual contract by value. During the course of 2019, this record has been broken not once but twice by new commercial projects we’re looking forward to delivering and installing early in 2020.

By then, we will have taken on a number of new commercial projects – as ever, return on investment will be the driver behind every one of these schemes. If you want to find out more our commercial buildings expertise, contact us here.