Contemporary or traditional design of garden rooms for permitted development.

Fortunately, the choice of design or material selection for a garden room is totally within your control if it falls within the confines of permitted development. If it does not require formal Planning Permission, then the Council have no say on how it looks or what materials you can use.

Up until a few years ago, 90% of all garden rooms looked like mini Swiss chalets using interlocking log planks. Many were no better than a glorified shed.

Peoples requirements and expectations have now changed and many garden room building manufacturers have risen to the challenge of producing a higher quality of design some with a very contemporary feel. Many are highly insulated and have low running costs.

However, the most critical factor that may restrict the design you have is with regard to the design of the roof and how close to the boundary the building is located.

As a general guide, a pitched roof building no less than 2M to a boundary will give the home owner the greatest scope for a larger building. This allows a ridge height up to 4M high. Conversely, a flat roofed garden room located within 2M of a boundary will be the most restrictive as no part of the structure can be more than 2.5M high. This may limit the garden rooms size and functionality.

Budget obviously plays an important part on any garden rooms purchase but as a guide, the more bespoke or contemporary in design features with highly insulated building elements, the more expensive it will be but should be of a higher quality. The timber boarded Swiss looking chalet is still probably the most cheapest of garden rooms available.

For a diagram of the restrictions affecting detached garden rooms click here.