Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s massive home renovation

KATE and Will spend up big, with a bill of almost $2.7 million for massive renovations on Anmer Hall.

THE new, garden room, with a glass ceiling at Anmer Hall, the new country home of Prince William and Kate. Picture: Snapper Media Group.

THE Duchess of Cambridge, has spent almost $2.7 million on massive renovations to the Sandringham estate she and Prince William will call home.

Anmer Hall, on the Queen’s Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, has been renovated for Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with the bill estimated at almost $2.7 million.

Of that about $900,000 will be spent replacing roof tiles and another $900,000 to landscape the front lawn.

Work included a new ‘garden room’, a 5 metre by 5 metre space which will house a dining table and has a glass ceiling.

THE new, garden room, with a glass ceiling at Anmer Hall, the new country home of Prince William and Kate. Picture: Snapper Media Group.

The home was being privately rented from the Queen, but the tenant was asked to move out early for the Royal couple.

With its bright orange roof and a conservatory-style garden room, it bears something of a resemblance to “Beckingham Palace”, one-time home of David and Victoria Beckham.

A garage block is now accommodation for police protection officers.

The renovations also linked the house to an old wood store which has been transformed into a “nanny flat” for Maria Borallo, who was recently employed by the couple to look after Prince George.

The royal family will make Anmer Hall their new country home, with accommodation also built for George’s nanny. Picture: Kym Smith.

The couple already have a 20-room apartment in Kensington Palace, which has been brought up to scratch with the help of $2.7 million worth of taxpayer-funded improvements.

But the Queen decided to give the couple the 200-year-old Grade II-listed mansion on her Sandringham Estate in Norfolk after asking her existing tenant, who still had several years left to run on his lease, to move out.

Work on the ten-bedroom house began in September after King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council agreed a series of planning applications that were never published “for reasons of national security”.

Royal sources say Kate plans to use the rest of her “maternity leave” to focus on finishing the house.

THE new layout of the property at Anmer Hall on the Sandringham Estate Norfolk. The Hall has had a new church car park and the new drive way and private entrance to the hall put in. Picture: Snapper Media Group.

One said: “She is going to spend a great deal of time there over the next few weeks with a view to being able to move in this summer.

“The family will spend most weekends there, although Kensington Palace will remain their primary residence.”

The most noticeable difference at the Georgian mansion, which already has an outdoor pool and tennis court, is the new clay pantiles roof.

According to Tony Passmore, managing director of Passmore Group, a Yorkshire-based group specialising in refurbishments, the tiles are actually “rather bog standard”.

“Surprisingly, they aren’t much different from the kind of tiles you and I would have on our houses and are actually in keeping with a traditional-style house,” he said.

“The colour is rather bright but they will weather and in five years or so will look as if they have been there for ever.’’

A further $180,000 will have been spent on replacing the dormer windows which have been rebuilt in timber with lead roofs.

The 200-year-old property had rotting window frames replaced on the upstairs windows, while more money was spent beefing up security to keep the Royal couple safe.

Signs have been put up warning that the area is strictly private. All the work at Anmer Hall has been paid for by the Royal Family as it is privately owned by the Queen.

According to Mr Passmore, a member of the Federation of Master Builders, the conservatory jars with the rest of the building.

“It looks like it has been rather stuck on and doesn’t really fit with the rest of the property,” he said.

“They have incorporated columns to match those on the door to the building but the roof tiles don’t even match. Prince Charles would probably describe it as a carbuncle anywhere else, although I wouldn’t go that far. But it just doesn’t flow with the rest of the property.”

Other major works include rerouting the main driveway to sweep across a field in front of the house to give the family greater privacy.

The main gate to the house has been moved further down the driveway to keep away onlookers.

A garage block has been converted into accommodation for the couple’s personal protection officers and the front lawn dug up to create extra parking.

Although the cost of the works is being met privately by the Royal Family, Norfolk Police is recruiting extra armed officers to guard the property round the clock.

— Daily Mail