Skip to content
BPindex — The Largest Building Products Directory in the UK

Rooflights & Skylights

Safe, compliant roof access is non-negotiable in modern building design.

Building Products Index Ltd Access Hatches, Rooflights Leave a Comment

View the National Domelight Company entry on BPindex

Visit the Rooflights and Skylights website

Whether for maintaining solar panels, servicing rooftop building services plant, or providing access to roof terraces and gardens, every project must ensure that occupants and maintenance teams can reach the roof safely and with ease. Access hatches deliver a permanent, compliant, and secure means of access from within the building – eliminating the risks and inconvenience of external ladders or scaffolding.

And while primarily a safety-critical feature, the right roof access solution can also enhance a building’s appearance. With modern flat glass and dome designs available, today’s systems combine robust performance with clean, contemporary aesthetics, ensuring safety never compromises style.

Rooflights & Skylights supply a comprehensive range of roof access hatches from leading UK manufacturers, helping specifiers match the right product to every application – from residential maintenance to high-traffic commercial use.

For occasional residential access, the Coxdome Trade Range Rooftop Access Rooflight provides a practical and economical solution for routine maintenance.

For more frequent access, such as entry to roof terraces and roof gardens or retrofit installations, options include:

For commercial applications, the Thermadome Commercial Access Hatch offers a durable aluminium construction and high-performance insulation – ideal for plant maintenance and service access.

Visit the Rooflights and Skylights website available from Rooflights & Skylights – your trusted partner for daylighting and roof access solutions.

How a Roof Lantern Brought Light and Life to a Historic Home Extension

Building Products Index Ltd Rooflights Leave a Comment

View the National Domelight Company entry on BPindex

Visit the Rooflights & Skylights website

When a growing family needed more space—and more light—they turned to Rooflights & Skylights for expert advice. The result? A stunning 6-panel roof lantern that transformed a deep extension into a bright, welcoming living space.

Project: Set in the heart of a quiet Northamptonshire village, this charming semi-detached home has a unique past. Originally built in 1820 as a schoolhouse, the property carries a rich sense of character and history. When Jason and his partner purchased it in 2018, they saw the potential to create something really special. With its distinctive L-shaped footprint and three-bedroom layout, the home offered both space and charm – but as their family plans grew, so did their need for more room. That’s when the idea for a modern extension began to take shape.

Brief: With their first child on the way, Jason and his partner knew they needed more space to grow as a family. Their vision was to add a single-storey extension to the home, creating a larger, more comfortable living area where they could relax and spend time together. The extension would sit off the back of the property with a flat roof design – ideal for blending with the existing structure. However, because the new space was quite deep, they quickly realised that relying on standard vertical windows might not bring in enough natural light, especially towards the middle of the room. That’s when they started exploring rooflight options to brighten up the space.

Solution: To bring natural light into the new extension and create a standout architectural feature, Jason reached out to Scott Couldrey at Rooflights & Skylights for advice on the best product for the space. Given the depth of the extension and the property’s traditional character, the rooflight wouldn’t just serve a functional role – it would become a visible feature from all areas of the garden, so style was just as important as performance.

Working closely with his builder, Jason specified the need for a rooflight to fit an overall kerb of  3000mm x 2000mm. After reviewing options that balanced style, performance, availability, and budget, Scott recommended a 6-panel roof lantern from Brett Martin as the ideal solution.

The roof lantern is built with a sleek aluminium frame, finished in RAL 9010 White internally and RAL 7016 Anthracite Grey externally – ensuring a clean look inside while blending beautifully with the exterior of the home. It features six self-cleaning, double-glazed panels with a blue tint, helping to soften natural light and reduce glare in the living space.

While Brett Martin also offers a 4-panel version in the same size, the 6-panel design was chosen for two key reasons: the smaller glass panels made handling and installation easier for the builder, and the multi-panel layout gave the lantern a more ornate, decorative appearance – enhancing its visual impact from both inside and out.

Ease of delivery was also a consideration. The property sits at the end of a narrow village lane that had previously caused issues for larger commercial vehicles. Taking this into account, Scott arranged for the lantern to be delivered on a suitably sized truck, ensuring smooth access and a stress-free delivery to site.

Conclusion

“Buying a rooflight or lantern is not an everyday purchase, and it’s certainly not one you can afford to get wrong,” said Jason. “However, I felt supported at every step. Scott’s detailed questioning about the project and what I was aiming to achieve reassured me about purchasing a roof lantern from Rooflights & Skylights. This became even more clear when issues about access to the property were highlighted and the lengths he went to ensure the chosen roof lantern was shipped on a suitable vehicle. I can’t recommend Rooflights & Skylights highly enough.”

For Jason and his family, the roof lantern hasn’t just transformed the extension with natural light – it’s added a stylish architectural focal point to the home, delivered with care, expertise, and a truly personal approach.

Click for more info:  https://www.rooflights-skylights.co.uk/products/brett-martin-classic-6-panel-roof-lantern

Your specification partner in daylight solutions for interiors

Building Products Index Ltd Rooflights Leave a Comment

View the National Domelight Company on BPindex

Visit the National Domelight Company website

Visit the Rooflights & Skylights website

With the unrelenting trend for domestic extensions and customers seeking to make maximum use of available space within their homes, Rooflights & Skylights provide you, the architect, with the ideal solution.

As well as delivering natural light to areas of a living space that might otherwise be difficult to illuminate naturally, well considered rooflights or skylights provide opportunity to free up wall space and overcome planning hurdles in ways that traditional windows can’t resolve.

And with the multitude of styles and functionality available, it’s easier than ever to provide you with the perfect solution to meet your customers’ needs in terms of aesthetics, intensity of illumination, thermal performance and ventilation.

However, there’s still plenty to consider. So, Scott Couldrey, Managing Director, Rooflights & Skylights, discusses the options…

Glass or polycarbonate

For many customers, the choice of rooflight styles available on the market can be intimidating, so we always suggest the first choice to make is between a glass or polycarbonate rooflight.

Pro Tip!.. If the rooflight can be seen from the outside of the property, then choose Glass!

There’s no denying that glass rooflights are a more aesthetically pleasing solution – particularly in domestic settings where it might form an architectural centrepiece within the interior, or impose a visual impact on the exterior of the property.

However, polycarbonate rooflights come into their own where functionality and budget trump aesthetics – with a wide range of shapes and sizes as well as different coatings and ventilation options available.

Function and style 

Allowing huge amounts of daylight to flood into an interior space and providing a clean, minimalist, yet stunning design feature, it’s easy to see why roof lanterns and pyramid skylights are such a popular solution when it comes to making a statement.

Pro Tip!.. Looking for a discrete means of introducing light into a single storey extension where the roof acts as a balcony or terrace…choose a Walk-on skylight!

Access hatches are a cost-effective method of allowing occasional access to a rooftop for the purpose of inspection or maintenance, while providing an invaluable source of natural light into an interior.

Our range of AOV smoke vents can serve the dual purpose of allowing natural light into a building, while adhering to fire safety and ventilation regulations – particularly relevant in buildings of multiple occupancy.

Thermal performance

With energy efficiency a growing concern among customers, thermal performance comes under tight scrutiny. As well as different styles and sizes having an impact on the thermal performance of a rooflight or skylight, the range of glazing options and their associated U-value ratings, also determine how much the glass reduces heat loss.

Pro Tip!.. Argon-filled glazing units act as a more efficient thermal buffer than air-filled units and can help your customer save money in reduced energy bills long-term.

Expert support with product specification

With years of experience, working on hundreds of extension projects, Rooflights & Skylights can help you specify the best solution – taking into account budget, aesthetics, functionality, building regulations and planning requirements.

Bespoke rooflight and skylight design

In non-standard spaces or unusual sites, building regulations and planning restrictions can turn up some unusual challenges and our expertise comes into its own…we’re here to help!

And, if our team can’t find a standard product fit for your project then our bespoke support service will ensure a solution is designed and manufactured to your custom-build specifications.

Contact us today for expert support with your next project.