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As the trend towards working from home continues there are an increasing range of options available to you in your back garden.

Will you need planning permission?

There is a tricky one, and there is no hard and fast answer. To be on the safe side you should ask your local planning authority. Prestige Gardens can assist you with this process.

Send your planning authority a sketch showing the location of the site, the details and sizes of the building, and their position in relation to the house requesting comment as to whether permission is required. They should be able to comment in general terms within 14 days free of charge. If you need planning permission this will cost you a modest fee somewhere around £ 100.

If the building is to be used for combined domestic/business purposes then you will not have to apply for change of use. However, if you are going to dedicate the building to exclusive work use, change of use will be required and the charge for this is £195.There is a free booklet available from your local planning authority - ‘Planning a Guide for Householders’ published by the DETR.

Buying Decisions

Essentially there are two issues to consider when making the decision to invest in a Garden office / studion.
Design - quite important - does it fit in with your house/garden ?
Quality - are you paying enough?

Below we will examine these issues in a little more depth

It is tempting to go for the cheapest short term solution. Jon Lacey of Prestige Gardens is particularly proud of his garden office and garden studio work.

You have to get the roof right because that is where the both the sun and the rain are going to hit. Obviously the walls need to be firm too. We have designed a special convector roof which circulates air, cooling the building in the summer and in the winter it acts as a thermal break.

• Portability: if you decided to move could you take it with you ?
• Insurance: check with your domestic insurers to see if you can extend the policy to cover an outbuilding.
• Reference sites: how is it standing up to weather ?

Some Things You might need to think about

1. Groundworks –– even putting up a temporary structure will require something.
2. Power –– plan for the future. Computers have a habit of multiplying. Putting the cable underground is preferable to an airborne cable but will require an armoured cable which has to be buried 18 inches below ground. Consult an electrical contractor for the required specifications.
3. Telephone –– following the advice of a cable supplier we used water pipe with 24 core cable (again planning for the future) pulled through. This extension was then attached into the telephone point in the house. A useful technique is to flush a cork attached to fishing line and then use this to pull the cable through and we now successfully have ISDN running across this.
4. Paths –– if the journey to the office is across grass - this is fine in summer but you will need something to keep the mud down in winter - consider some slab stepping stones at minimum.
5. Orientation –– not so much feng shui but consider views in and out. Also consider the effect of sun shining in in winter. Ours faces south and a large overhang keeps direct sun out in summer but allows it in in winter.
6. Security –– an alarm might well attract attention but consider using a five lever mortice lock on the door, double glazing on the window. Also you may want to consider a security device on the PC such as an armoured casing. Forest Fencing offer shuttering –– a clear deterrent to getting through windows.