Add separation space and flexibility to your working life
When space is a premium and you need better separation from your work and personal life, a garden room adds value to your home and to your life. The benefits of a garden office include providing versatile space for a home office, studio, craft room, gym, or simply a separate place to be away from the main house.
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The main benefits of a garden office
If working from home is becoming a more regular or even permanent part of your work life, you need to create the best conditions for your productivity and wellbeing.
Your work environment affects your mood, thoughts, behaviours and therefore how well you perform and interact with others.
With a garden pod, not only can you create that designated room to optimise your productivity, you don’t take away from valuable space or a room in the house.
A space just for work
Most people benefit from a dedicated space to work from. A space where you are less likely to be disturbed, a place that you treat as work, not home, that inspires you to work and helps you feel professional.
By adding a garden pod or office, you instantly have a separate space that you can design for optimum productivity, and importantly, enjoyment. By furnishing and decorating a garden room in a way that suits your personality and working style, you can tailor your environment to bring out the best in you.
It also means you are not constrained by the other people or decor in the main home. You can choose colours that work for you and create a professional environment that might look out of place in your living space or bedroom.
“Ultimately, our mission was to design a space for working from home,” says Andy Gabel, founder of Slope Spaces, an independent company specialising in manufacturing garden offices in the UK. The beauty is in the versatility of a garden room. “People have set up nail bars or little yoga studios. People can get creative.”
Health benefits
Some of the important aspects of a home working environment are those geared towards wellbeing.
There are several factors to consider including lighting your space, ventilation, and temperature.
All these affect your comfort level and health, which can help or hinder your productivity.
One of the key benefits of a garden office is how light and airy they can feel. With no internal walls, and the option of large glass windows, they allow for plenty of natural light. They also give you views into your garden and a more direct connection with nature.
Garden pods tend to be constructed with robust materials that comply with building regulations. At Slope Spaces, they use insulated panels clad with timber. Their aluminium-framed windows contain argon-filled double glazing. The air vents and bi-fold doors mean you can keep your space well ventilated.
“All our garden rooms meet building regulations,” says Andy. “Slope Spaces have 28ml double glazing –thicker than some house window double glazing. They stay cool in summer and warm in winter.”
Installation and customisation
Many people like the fact that a garden room is a blank canvas for them to create an ideal work environment. This is what Andy aims to give his clients with each Slope Space build. The timber cladding and plywood walls provide a stylish contemporary and Scandinavian feel to the space that he says most customers retain. He says a big appeal of the build is the fact that “there are no wet trades or plastering involved. No decorating. It’s done and finished in a day.”
They have two sizes of garden room: the Big Brother and Little Sister. Each is able to accommodate at least a desk, chair and storage. “They are built in a factory, dismantled and taken to site. Within a day it is built, watertight and finished. There is less hassle, which is why we made it a modular unit. You are not getting disrupted having to take time off work or be at home for a week while the garden room is built.” Their modular design also means they can maintain a high quality space with a more affordable price.
However, there are still elements that can be customised. There is the option of satin glass which allows the light to enter but provides some privacy. “You can also add an artificial grass roof or a sedum roof if you wanted a living one, so there are a few optional extras,” explains Andy.
Andy recommends finding an electrician to fit a consumer unit or fuse board to your garden room so you can run power to the space. To avoid the added work of recessing lighting, he says, “Everything can be surface mounted internally so you can create an industrial look, which has proved very popular.”
Added Value
Of course, garden rooms have huge advantages but they do require an initial investment.
“It’s an investment but our prices include VAT and installation.” says Andy. “So when you take the cost of the room itself, if you were hiring an office that might cost £200 a week in a city centre, you’d have bought and paid for the garden room in a year.”
Some may also see it as a long-term saving compared to regular coworking, as the cost would still see the room paid for within two or three years, especially if you were to factor in travel costs.
As you own the space, a further benefit of a garden office is the value it adds to your property. Most studies show they add at least 5% and up to 15% of the value of your home. You are adding space, functionality, and in some cases, good aesthetics and a bit of wow factor.
Adding a garden office build can also prove more cost effective (and less messy) than an extension or loft conversion.
The big benefit of a garden office, which may outweigh any financial reward, is the value it adds to your life. Having that dedicated space where you can work productively yet also close the door on at the end of the day can be game-changing.
Key benefits of a garden office from Slope Spaces
Once constructed, you have an extra room to furnish and use as you wish. A garden room is a practical investment that can help you save money on commuting and office hire in the long run while giving you your own space just down the garden path.
- No planning permission required
- Delivered and assembled in a day
- No special access required
- No concrete, plastering or mess
- Can be taken down and transported to another property
- Constructed from energy-efficient, sustainable materials
Outdoor photography: Daryl Scott Walker
Dedicated to helping you thrive when you work from home, The Homeworker publishes articles that are designed to keep you healthy, happy, and more productive in work and life.
