Small garden? Get round it!

Small garden? Get round it!

Let’s face it; not everyone has an enormous garden! But how does one get around the fact that permitted development can restrict your choice of garden building when you have a small space to work with? Answer: Get round it!

Most of us are allowed a certain amount of permitted development in our garden. This is hugely advantageous when looking to increase your living or working space and are thinking of the addition of a conservatory or garden room but can be restrictive if the garden isn’t as large as you’d like it to be!

Most garden rooms have either pitched, mono-pitched or flat roofs. The Pitched roof gives a beautiful feeling of space and is a welcome addition to a more traditional garden where it’s important to keep the style of your garden room in keeping with the existing buildings. The mono-pitched and flat roofs are a contemporary solution if you wanted a square, functional room without the charm (perfect for bike sheds and offices). We define the Rotunda cathedral roof as a pitched roof. This airy, open, loft style roofing system gives you breathing space and a marvellous aesthetic feature.

Here in lies the problem; pitched roof + small garden. Most of our clients ask us how far a garden building must be positioned from the boundary to comply with permitted development guidelines.

Any building sited closer than 2m to the boundary (ie: snugly up against the fence or tucked into a corner – which is where most of us ideally would like to place a garden building) must be less than 2.5m tall. If your garden is a wee bit on the small side, this would give you only a couple of options:

Site your garden-room 2m from the boundary – which could mean it fills the entire central space of the lawn!
Settle instead for a flat-roofed garden building which is no taller than 2.5m high
Oh no! There must be another way?

Fortunately, there is! We’ve been working with a couple of our clients to bring them the solution for their snug little gardens…..

By reducing the overall size of the Rotunda and creating a reduced height bespoke front door we’ve developed the 2.1m (7ft) internal diameter BABY-ROTUNDA!

It’s pretty adorable. The same features and functionality still apply, and with over 2m internal diameter, this means you can still pop a single airbed in there for a surprise visitor and have enough room to sit and meditate, enjoy a cup of tea or work on your art. With an overall height of under 2.4m you can site this little building snugly up to the fence without needing to apply for planning permission (your intended use might warrant planning though – please do check before purchasing) and you still have the artisan charm of a cathedral roof and bespoke detailing which can only been found with a Rotunda!

So, if you’ve got a tiny garden but you’d still like a little sanctuary in the round please feel free to chat with us; we think we’ve just ‘got round’ the space problem and we have a solution for you!

Blogpost written by Gemma Roe.