A garden office
Increasing numbers of people are turning to sheds to create an economic, convenient and attractive working space. This may serve as an office, or as an art studio, or even (if sufficiently insulated) as a sound or recording studio. There’s even a term for using this kind of outside space: “shedworking”.
A garden office offers numerous advantages:
- you can create a space to work at home that is completely separate from domestic activities;
- this will free up space within the home (so many home workers otherwise use the spare bedroom of the dining room);
- your commuting involves no more than a walk to the end of the garden.
How big?
As big as you like, as big as your garden will take – but note the limits permissible before you require planning permission (see the separate article on Planning Permission).
A key point here is that the modern office requires much less space than ever before, given the miniaturisation of equipment, and the trend towards an increasingly “paperless” office. Some companies have specialised in supplying small prefabricated “pods”, designed to serve a minimalist approach to office equipment. See, for example, Office POD:
Matching needs to cost
If you want an office that you can use all year, you need to think about spending at least £4000. This would be for a tiny space, perhaps just 2m x 2m, of fairly rudimentary, boxlike design, but fully insulated and wired up.
You can spend any amount making your shed more sophisticated, comfortable and attractive. About £8000 would be a reasonable budget for a small and interesting space; up to £20,000 for something larger and specially designed to suit your needs. Beyond that, you are probably talking about something more than a shed: a garden room, with planning permission, perhaps.
Specialist companies
A number of manufacturers specialise in designing and supplying sheds to be used as working spaces. For example: Henley (see their “New Solus” design), Smart Garden Offices, The Garden Room Company, Cotsmill Garden Offices, Work Shacks and Taylor’s Garden Buildings:
http://smartgardenoffices.co.uk
www.thegardenroomcompany.co.uk
www.taylorsgardenbuildings.co.uk
Some are pride themselves on their ecological credentials. They include Vivid Green (“Penthouse” and the all-year “Winterhouse”), and Energy Space.
Join the movement
Shedworking has become quite a culture in its own right. You can get a measure of this from the dedicated website:
