How much should I budget for premium glazing?

A partial replacement usually begins around £8,000, a whole-home scheme is typically £20,000 to £70,000, and extensions or self-builds with feature glazing generally sit between £40,000 and £150,000. The size of the largest panes moves the figure more than the number of windows does.

Can you help during the design stage?

Yes, and it is when we add most value. Involving us before openings are fixed lets us advise on sightlines, spans, thresholds and thermal detailing while changes are still inexpensive on paper rather than expensive on site.

Do you work with architects and builders?

Regularly. We provide section drawings, U-value calculations and system data for planning and building control, and we co-ordinate delivery around the build programme so the property stays weathertight.

How long does a typical project take?

Allow around six to ten weeks from order to installation for most systems, longer for bespoke colours or very large units. Installation itself is usually one to two weeks for a whole home, or phased to suit a build.

Which areas do you cover?

We survey and install throughout Cumbria and the Lake District, and work regularly into North Lancashire, North Yorkshire and southern Scotland. If a project sits a little beyond that, it is worth asking.

Do you provide fixed quotations?

After your consultation you receive an itemised quotation, with no expectation that you sign anything while we are in the room. Once you place your order, we carry out the detailed technical survey and confirm final manufacturing information before production.

What guarantees are included?

Guarantees vary by product and component. The applicable frame, glazing, hardware and installation guarantees are confirmed in writing with your quotation, together with the claim route and any maintenance conditions.

Can you replace only part of my glazing?

Often the sensible approach. We specify a first phase so that later elevations can be matched exactly in profile, colour and hardware, even years later.

Contemporary Lake District home with full-height architectural glazing at dusk

Cumbria · Lake District · The North

Architectural Windows & Doors For Exceptional Homes

Aluminium and timber-look glazing for extensions, renovations and self-builds across Cumbria, the Lake District and the North.

Get a Project Price Book a Design Consultation

Plans, photos or approximate sizes are enough to get started. Or explore the Design Studio

01768 254554projects@windowsinthelakes.co.uk

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Installers with over 20 years of fitting experience

Premium glazing for renovations, extensions and self-builds across Cumbria and the North.

Appleby-in-Westmorland

Studio and survey base

5.0 from 7 Google reviews

An exceptional Lake District home set within the fells at first light

Designed Around the Landscape. Built Around the Way You Live.

Every home sits differently within the landscape.

Our role is to understand its architecture before recommending the products that will complement it.

Collections

Five ways to bring light into a home

Architectural Aluminium

Slimline aluminium windows, single doors, French doors, bifolds and sliding systems for contemporary and traditional homes.

Ideal for

Contemporary homes
Slim sightlines
Sliding doors & bifolds
Large feature glazing

Windows, sliding doors, bifolds, entrance doors and feature glazing — for extensions, self-builds and considered replacements where the frame should recede.

Explore the Collection

Timber Look Collection

Residence-inspired timber alternative windows, French doors and single doors, alongside premium sliding sash options.

Ideal for

Traditional homes
Heritage appearance
Low maintenance
Conservation-style projects

At home on farmhouses, cottages and conservation streets where painted joinery is the visual language of the building.

Explore the Collection

Heritage Sash Collection

Vertical sliding sash windows with authentic period proportions, tilt-in cleaning and modern thermal performance.

Ideal for

Victorian homes
Period properties
Character renovations
Authentic sash appearance

For Victorian, Edwardian and Georgian elevations designed around a vertical opening — authentic sash proportions, tilt-in cleaning and nothing to repaint.

Explore the Collection

Nordic Aluclad Collection

Engineered Scandinavian timber inside, powder-coated aluminium outside — warmth in the room, no maintenance on the elevation.

Ideal for

Exceptional thermal performance
Natural timber interiors
Premium self-builds
Luxury renovations

For self-builds and deep retrofits — real timber inside the room, powder-coated aluminium taking the weather outside.

Explore the Collection

Internal Steel Collection

Slimline steel-look internal doors and glazed screens that divide space without losing a single shaft of daylight.

Ideal for

Open-plan interiors
Steel-look screens
Borrowed daylight
Rooms without corridors

For open-plan interiors that need zoning rather than dividing — slim steel-look doors and screens that keep daylight travelling.

Explore the Collection

Start here

Not sure what windows or glazing you need?

You don’t need to know the system, specification or even the material yet. Start with the question you’re trying to answer.

Explore the window & glazing guides Start with your property

Start With Your Home

Every Project Begins With the Home

Before we recommend a single window or door, we begin by understanding your property.

Upload a photograph or answer a few simple questions and we’ll recommend collections, completed projects and design ideas tailored specifically to your home.

Upload a photograph of your property

One clear photograph is enough. We’ll read your home’s architecture and tailor everything that follows to it.

Or drag and drop a photograph here.

Your photograph is used only to prepare these recommendations and is never published.

Don’t have a photograph?

Complete a short questionnaire instead — it feeds into exactly the same recommendations.

Design Studio

Explore every detail before you commit

A quiet place to compare colours, glass and hardware, and to gather the ideas you like into one brief.

Inspiration Gallery

Completed Cumbrian glazing, filtered by property, product, colour, room and budget.

Saved projects

Stone cottageSelf buildBarn

Explore

Colours Studio

RAL classics, textured and woodgrain finishes, metallics and dual-colour combinations.

Colour palettes

Explore

Glass Studio

Solar control, tints, acoustic, triple glazing and the full obscure privacy range compared.

Glass compared

ClearSolarAcousticObscure

Explore

Hardware Studio

Handles, pull bars, letterplates, knockers and thresholds in every finish.

Hardware finishes

Explore

Design Details

Corner glazing, picture windows, flush thresholds, astragal bars and minimal sightlines.

Room inspiration

Corner glazingFlush sillsBars

Explore

Knowledge Centre

Definitive homeowner guides to products, cost, glass, colour, planning, technical detail and installation.

Knowledge Centre

CostPlanningGlassColour

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Help Choosing Windows & Glazing

Not sure what you need yet? Start from the question — budget, material, design, planning or comparing quotations.

Explore

A quiet planning tool

Build your Inspiration Collection

As you explore the website, simply tap the heart on any project, product, colour, glass option, video or guide that inspires you.

We’ll save everything into your personal Inspiration Collection, helping you build your perfect project before your design consultation.

View My Inspiration Explore Design Studio

Investment planning

Plan Your Project Investment

Understanding what projects like yours typically cost is the calmest way to begin.

Based on real completed projects
Takes around 2 minutes
No obligation

Start Your Investment Guide

Modern Extension

£18,000 – £28,000

Stone Cottage Renovation

£14,000 – £22,000

Self Build

£35,000 – £70,000

Indicative only. Every quotation is prepared around your property, specification and design aspirations. The detailed survey follows order and precedes manufacture.

Get an initial project price

Planning new windows, doors or glazing?

Send us your plans, photographs, architect drawings or approximate opening sizes. We’ll review what you’re trying to achieve and give you an initial indication of specification, likely investment and the sensible next step.

Get a Project Price Or book a design consultation

Selected Work · 2025

32 Heritage Windows and 4 Doors, Stone Self Build

A flagship full-house package for a stone self build in West Yorkshire — 32 aluminium Heritage windows and 4 aluminium Heritage doors, finished in black throughout.

Read the project story

Location: West Yorkshire
Scope: 32 windows · 4 doors
Products used: 32 aluminium Heritage windows, black · 4 aluminium Heritage doors · Georgian bar detailing throughout to suit the stone elevations · Triangular gable glazing to both gable ends · Full-height slim side-light glazing to the courtyard elevation

Case studies

The story behind each installation

All projects

West Yorkshire · 2025

32 Heritage Windows and 4 Doors, Stone Self Build

32 aluminium Heritage windows, black · 4 aluminium Heritage doors

The challenge: A live self-build programme with 36 openings across four elevations, all in newly dressed stone, several of them non-standard shapes — triangular gables and a full-height narrow light — with no tolerance for cumulative setting-out error across the elevation.
Our solution: Early involvement with the builder to agree structural opening sizes, then a full measured survey of every opening after the stonework was complete and before manufacture. Georgian bar layouts were drawn as a set rather than window by window, so bar spacing aligns horizontally across each elevation, and the non-standard gable and side-light units were manufactured to survey.
Outcome: A flagship full-house package for a stone self build in West Yorkshire — 32 aluminium Heritage windows and 4 aluminium Heritage doors, finished in black throughout.

Read the case study

North West England · 2025

Whole-House Aluminium Glazing, Contemporary Clad Remodel

Slimline aluminium sliding doors — full-width four-panel run to the pool terrace · Aluminium picture windows, square format, black throughout

The challenge: Re-glazing a remodelled house where the cladding, canopy steelwork and pool terrace all had to align with the glazing rather than the other way round — with a full-width sliding run at ground floor and a rhythm of square apertures above that had to stay visually consistent across two elevations.
Our solution: We set out the aperture sizes with the design team before the cladding battens were fixed, so every window sits centrally within the batten rhythm. The sliding run was surveyed after the canopy steel was in place and manufactured to that survey, giving a track and head detail concealed behind the soffit, and a threshold flush with the terrace paving.
Outcome: A complete remodel wrapped in vertical timber cladding and standing-seam metal, glazed throughout in black aluminium — square picture windows above, a full-width slimline sliding wall opening to the pool terrace below. Filmed by drone from first light to last.

Read the case study

Near Penrith, Eden Valley · 2025

A House Rebuilt Around Its Glazing

24 × Smarts Alitherm Heritage aluminium windows, matt black · Smarts Visofold aluminium bifolding door to the garden elevation

The challenge: Twenty-four windows across two very different elevations — a formal, traditionally detailed frontage and a rear range intended to be almost entirely glass — risked reading as two unrelated buildings.
Our solution: One system family and one finish across the whole house. Heritage casements with astragal bars answer the front elevation's proportions; the same profile, without bars, runs the glazed rear band and bifold. Internal steel-look screens repeat the sightline indoors, and matt black ties every opening together.
Outcome: A substantial detached house taken back to brick and remodelled: twenty-four Smarts Alitherm Heritage aluminium windows, a Visofold bifolding door, two steel-look internal sliding screens and a flat-roof rooflight over the new garden room — all in matt black against red brick and white render.

Read the case study

Near Keswick, North Lakes · August 2025

A Garden Room Glazed on Three Sides

Four-panel aluminium bifolding door run, RAL 9005 jet black · Five-panel aluminium bifolding door run to the return elevation

The challenge: A rear extension on a terrace risks turning the original back rooms into a dark corridor, and a fully glazed box would have looked nothing like the Victorian brickwork it joins.
Our solution: Brick piers and a tiled pitched roof keep the architecture in the same language as the house, while the spans between them are given over entirely to glazing. Rooflights carry daylight over the new roof and into the existing plan, and a single jet black finish across every frame, cill and handle ties the two builds together.
Outcome: A brick garden room on the back of a Victorian terrace, glazed on three elevations — a four-panel and a five-panel aluminium bifold turning the corner, a matching door and window set, and rooflights in the tiled gable, all in RAL 9005 jet black.

Read the case study

Near Cartmel, Cartmel Peninsula · August 2025

A Brick Barn Range, Opened to the Courtyard

Two aluminium French door sets with Georgian bar detailing, traditional white · Timber-look uPVC arched-head casement windows shaped to the original brick heads

The challenge: Converted farm buildings rarely give you a straight line. Openings were original, arched, and no two identical — and any glazing that ignored that would have made the range read as a modern terrace rather than a barn conversion.
Our solution: Every opening was surveyed individually and the frames made to the brickwork rather than the brickwork cut to the frames. Arched heads were templated in timber-look uPVC, the two aluminium French door sets were set beneath the springing line of each arch, and bar widths and sightlines were held constant across doors and windows so the whole elevation reads as one considered scheme.
Outcome: A row of converted brick farm buildings reglazed as one elevation — two aluminium French door sets fitted beneath the original segmental brick arches, with timber-look uPVC windows throughout: arched-head casements shaped to the brick and flush casements to match.

Read the case study

Near Windermere, Cumbria · June 2025

A Whole House, Front to Garden

Steel-look aluminium casement windows with Georgian bars, agate-grey frames · Twin brick bay windows to the front elevation, tile-hipped roofs

The challenge: Two elevations with opposite jobs. The front had to sit politely in an established street of tile-and-render houses; the back had to open a new extension almost entirely to the garden — while both read as one house, in one glazing language.
Our solution: A single system family in two finishes: Georgian-bar steel-look casements in agate grey to the frontage, and a wide-span door and screen run in anthracite to the garden. Sightlines, bar widths and head heights were set out across the whole house as one drawing set, and the lantern was specified to match the extension frames so the roof glass belongs to the same scheme.
Outcome: A remodelled and extended family house glazed as a single scheme — steel-look Georgian-bar casements and bay windows across the render-and-brick front elevation, a full-width brick garden room behind it in dark grey aluminium, and a flat-roof lantern over the new kitchen.

Read the case study

Near Milnthorpe, South Lakeland, Cumbria · May 2025

Courtyard Garden Room, Brick Barn-Style New Build

Paired aluminium French doors, courtyard elevation, brown/anthracite powder coat · Full-height fixed aluminium screens between brick piers

The challenge: A brick-and-oak courtyard range where every glazed opening sits between structural piers and beneath an oak lintel, with no scope to adjust the masonry — and two elevations that had to read as one continuous glazed line from the terrace.
Our solution: Openings were surveyed after the brickwork and lintels were set, and frames manufactured to survey so each unit fits the pier spacing exactly. Head details were levelled across both elevations as a set rather than opening by opening, and the finish was chosen to sit with the oak rather than contrast against it.
Outcome: A single-storey brick courtyard range glazed as one continuous run — paired aluminium French doors set between brick piers, flanked by full-height fixed screens beneath heavy oak lintels, with a second bifolding elevation returning onto the sandstone terrace.

Read the case study

Full-house aluminium window installation, Kirkby Stephen

Beautiful architecture deserves beautifully considered glazing.

Our approach

Why Homeowners Choose Windows in the Lakes

Glazing is one of the few decisions in a home you live with every single day. What follows is how we try to make it a decision you never think about again.

We start with the architecture

Proportion, sightlines and the way light moves through a room are settled before a single product is named. The best glazing decisions are made early, on paper.

Systems chosen for the building

We hold several collections precisely so we are never obliged to make one of them fit. The elevation decides, not the order book.

Surveyed to the millimetre

Structural openings, reveals and thresholds are recorded properly. Accuracy at survey is what makes installation week quiet.

Installed as carefully as it was drawn

Experienced teams we know and trust, protecting the property and finishing the junctions where most installations quietly fall short.

Advice you can act on

Clear costs, honest trade-offs, and a straight answer when a cheaper specification would serve you just as well.

Judged for the long term

Frames, finishes and hardware are specified for lasting performance and appearance — and we stay reachable after handover.

“

What a brilliant experience! From start to finish (initial phone enquiry - to job completion) the process was seamless. Nothing was too much trouble, no request too trivial. Always felt like I was at the centre of the process.

Jeff Evans · Google review

The journey

Every project follows a carefully considered journey.

Exceptional glazing doesn’t happen by accident. Every project follows a structured process designed to ensure every detail is right from the beginning.

Step 01

Initial Consultation

Every project begins with understanding the architecture, the way light moves through the building and the way you want to live in it. No pressure, no sales script.

Step 02

Design & Quotation

Products, configurations, sightlines, finishes and hardware are developed into a clear, itemised quotation before you decide whether to proceed.

Step 03

Order & Detailed Survey

Once you place your order, we complete the detailed survey. Precise openings, thresholds and reveals are recorded before any manufacturing information is released.

Step 04

Final Confirmation & Manufacture

Survey dimensions, configurations, finishes and hardware are confirmed with you before each system is manufactured specifically for the project.

Step 05

Professional Installation

Experienced installation teams we know and trust protect the property, fit carefully and finish properly — the part of the process most homeowners worry about most.

Step 06

Completion & Aftercare

Final inspections, adjustment, handover and continued support long after installation. We stay reachable for the life of the glazing.

Good to know

Choosing a Glazing Specialist

The questions homeowners ask us most often, answered plainly. If yours isn’t here, we would rather talk it through than guess.

Book a Design Consultation Visit the Knowledge Centre

Where we work

A day’s drive from the finest homes in the North

Projects and installations are managed from Appleby-in-Westmorland, with teams covering the fells, the coast and the counties either side. The detailed survey takes place after order and before manufacture. If your project sits just beyond, ask — we travel for the right work.

Explore the areas we cover

Ambleside Bowness Coniston Grasmere Hawkshead Kendal Keswick Langdale Penrith Rydal Ullswater Windermere Appleby-in-Westmorland Kirkby Stephen Carlisle Staveley Cockermouth

Begin

Let’s design something exceptional.

Bring us your drawings, your site photographs or simply an idea. We will tell you what is possible, what it should cost and how long it will take.

Book a Design Consultation Get a Project Price

Ready for a full quotation? Request a Quotation