Inspiration for your garden office
Shuffling from the kitchen table to squatting on the floor – home working this past year has taught us that distraction-free working in a quiet space is a must.
Garden offices or rooms are fast becoming a popular solution to creating an affordable space away from the home. A separate room from your self-build home can create a better work-life balance and even improve your wellbeing.
It’s worth factoring this space into your self-build budget and thinking about how much time you’ll spend in the space and what features are important to you. Are you looking for a humble shed or a luxuriously insulated garden room complete with plumbing? The cost of garden offices or rooms can wildly vary due to material costs, construction methods and the features included.
Building an office in your garden can cost anything from £2,000 up to £20,000. They come in different styles and can be built from timber, oak, glass and structural insulated panels.
A simple log cabin without insulation could cost around £2,000-£3,000. Insulated, bespoke options often increase the cost of a garden office.
You may be wondering whether adding a garden office to your self-build will add value to your property. The simple answer is yes. The increase in floor space and the improved look of your garden are attractive features to potential buyers, if and when you decide to sell your self-build.
Garden office planning permission
Garden offices are considered to be permitted developments so they can be built without planning permission but you do need to ensure the office is a single storey, has roof eaves no higher than 2.5 metres high and the building must be two metres from any boundary walls. Anything that exceeds this will need to seek planning permission.
Garden office inspiration
Once you’ve got the go-ahead, what’s out there to suit your budget and requirements?
At the high end of the spectrum, the GRDNspace garden studio by Roofspace Solutions is a contemporary and airy solution for an outside garden office. The structure is made from sustainably sourced timber and comes fully lined and insulated with double glazing, available in three sizes to suit your space and budget. There’s no need to apply for planning permission as these garden studios fall under permitted development – 2.5 metres high.
Prices start from £8,400 (plus VAT) for the 3.6m wide x 3.0m deep GRDNspace garden studio with window optional upgrades available. It takes from two days to build with a lead time of three to four weeks.
Discover the GRDNspace garden studio by Roofspace as pictured above here.
Elsewhere, if you’re looking for another hassle-free garden office solution Build Aviator has created a range of customisable garden rooms. You can choose from a range of doors, over 100 flooring options and even partition walls to divide the space.
A sturdy, insulated solution like this costs from £6,000 (exc VAT), based on a 2.4m x 3.6m room, and is designed to a high specification to reduce heat loss and minimise noise transfer.
This solution takes two to three weeks for delivery and installation can be provided by the Build Aviator By Design team which has a list of approved, registered installers throughout the UK. This option has been designed to fall under permitted development, but if you opt for a bespoke design, you may need to check with your local planning department.
Get a quick quotation for the Build Aviator garden room on their website here.
There’s certainly room for creativity when it comes to your garden office, which can become an adaptable space for when you’re not working. Why not think outside the box and plan your very own chic log-cabin or something quirky like this award-winning tiny pavilion in Hampshire. The six square metre timber structure, designed and built by architectural firm TDO, is beautifully cantilevered over a pond and is used for a space for meditation and a children’s den.
