Friday, November 30, 2012

Beach hut advent calendars open their doors tomorrow


As in previous years (and reported on in these pages), those in the Brighton and Bridlington areas can enjoy their very own beach hut advent calendar openings.

Tomorrow at 5.30pm sees the launch of the fifth annual Brighton Beach Hut Advent Calendar. From the 1st to the 24th December a different hut along Hove seafront will open each night with some surprising festive art. The launch will feature hut 311 with art created by St Christopher's School Hove based on the carol I Saw Three Ships and will include the school choir and decoration created by the children themselves. Other huts will include recreations of the stable complete with smell, all female morris dancers, local poets, various choirs and mathematical art. You can get details of each hut opening by going to www.beyondchurch.co.uk
 

In Bridlington (click here for more information) doors also open again on 1st December, then on the 8th and 15th, and then everyday until Christmas Eve. Organiser Martin Hutchinson says: "We will be retelling the famous story of the Nativity in the lead up to Christmas in new fresh, fun and interactive ways, using the gifts and talents of local people to delve into the issues that this timeless story tells."
We'll be bringing occasiopnal updates over the next month but do please go along and support these events. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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Thursday, November 29, 2012

Link between sheds and early British electronic music charted in new book

Devon-based author, musician and shedworker Mark Brend has a new book out today about early electronic music called The Sound of Tomorrow. Of particular interest to Shedworking's readers will be the role that sheds played in early British electronic music. Tristram Cary, the first British composer to experiment with electronic music, worked in a corrugated iron shed/studio in Fressingfield, Suffolk for many years. In the late 1960s he formed EMS, which produced the first British synthesizers, with Peter Zinovieff. Zinovieff too was a shedworker, operating a garden studio in Putney which backed onto the river. Click the video below from British Pathé to see Peter Zinovieff walk to his shed at the bottom of the garden, go inside and reveal his shedworking setup...
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Homestead Timber Buildings - Manufacturers of Quality Timber Buildings

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Tiny House School launched in UK



Mark Burton from Custom Built Surrey is setting up what he calls 'Tiny School' , hoping that the rise of the Tiny House Movement in the USA which we've documented extensively here on Shedworking will be echoed in the UK.

"It has become apparent from search results and trends that a growing amount of people are looking into the possibilities of building their own Tiny House," he says. "But it's not easy to put their own ideas and designs into practice with little or no building experience in this field.

"Building a Tiny House may seem like a relatively straight forward procedure but even for experienced carpenters, the whole project may become more problematical when a chassis is to be used for the base and the overall weight and structure will determine if you succeed or fail."

So the idea of Mark’s 'Tiny School' is to give the general public the opportunity to design and build their own dream Tiny House. It includes hands-on tutorial covering all aspects of building your own Tiny House starting with the chassis and how to strengthen it, building the structure and roof to constructing the internal layout and space saving tips. Mark can also be personally commissioned to come to you and help build your Tiny House subject to availability and location. More details about it all here.

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Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Luxury beach hut - yours for £245,000



Marketed as a "one bedroom terraced house" this luxury beach hut in Strand, Shaldon, Teignouth is on the market with Fulfords (full details here) for £245,000. Pricey? Well, for that price you also get a dinghy/car park, seating terrace, shower room, fitted kitchen with granite work surfaces, a "cleverly designed living area", stone wall and steps leading to a sandy beach, lavatory•, mezzanine floor,• television service, travertine floors, BT connection and "air handling". Don't all rush.



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Monday, November 26, 2012

Concrete, by William Hall

Here's a late entry for our favourite shedlike book of 2012 shortlist, Concrete by William Hall, published by Phaidon. It features 180 of the finest concrete buildings around the world. Regular readers of Shedworking will be familiar with one or two of the entries such as The Truffle House and Concrete Pod but there are lots, lots more similar delights such as the Coal Silo by Eduardo Torroja (below) and  Parkhotel by Andreas Strauss (even more below)



According to William, 265 billion cubic feet of concrete are produced annually. "I conceived this book to advocate and celebrate concrete’s beauty, efficacy and its incalculable contribution to modern life," he says, pointing to iconic masterpieces such as Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, Oscar Niemeyer’s Brasília, and Tadao Ando’s Church of Light. "Without concrete our built environment and the history of architecture would be woefully bereft. It is time to reconsider concrete and its contribution to architecture."

If you think concrete buildings are rubbish, then this clever book will change your mind. -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Entire workforce of 1 in 7 SMEs will soon be working from home


A business revolution will change the landscape for small and medium enterprises over the next 50 years, according to new research from insurer Zurich.

The challenges facing SMEs over the next five decades - from a massive increase in homeworking to driverless commercial fleets - will mean radical change to the way they operate and manage risk. Findings of the Zurich research include:
*One in seven say their entire workforce will be working from home in 2062
* 60% say artificial intelligence will eventually become our trusted workplace advisors in 50 years
* Half of SMEs say robotics will play a critical role in SMEs delivering services in 2062

The research found that over half (54%) of SMEs believe the high street as we currently know it will transform in just eight years, being replaced by a ‘virtual high street' online. 70% believe traditional high street SMEs must radically change their customer experience to compete with online purchasing in 2020. One in seven SMEs predict the whole workforce will be working from home in the future, compared to only 27% of the SME workforce that is working from home today. Subsequently, over half (53%) of SMEs say that by 2062 people will no longer commute to work.

Despite this, 37% believe that having their employees working from home will have a significant impact on their organisation, of which 16% go so far as to say the very nature of their business will completely change in 50 years. -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Shed Sunday


Every Sunday we're going to be featuring nice shed designs of all descriptions. If you have a nice shed of some description, by all means send it in and we'd be delighted to feature it. This first one is all over the interwebs and I can't track down the original but it's certainly nice. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Bill Oddie: shedworker


A marvellous interview by Stephanie Clark in the Daily Telegraph with Bill 'The Goodies' Oddie. He talks extremely frankly about how it has helped in dealing with depression as well as how he has fitted out to his personal taste. Here's a snippet:
The façade is adorned with memorabilia; the space in front, with its little outdoor table and two fold-up chairs, is festooned with hurricane lanterns, fairy lights and light-sensitive lanterns planted in the Buddhist corner.
Well worth a read. ----------------------------------------------------------
Saturday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Multistorey car parkworking (video)


An intriguing demonstration by the folk from Mod105 of how easy it is to put up one of their garden office models. Rather nice music to accompany it too.
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Dunster House, the leading UK company for Log Cabins and Garden Offices sponsors Friday posts

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Bikeworking


Lots of Shedworking's readers are keen cyclists so here's something of interest, a tricycle-based office. The sturdy refurbished Dutch cargo bike opens out into a desk when the rider is at rest. Apparently it is the work of students at this year’s Design Academy graduation show at Dutch Design Week but I can't find out any details about it so am hoping the fine people at popupcity are not making it all up. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homestead Timber Buildings - Manufacturers of Quality Timber Buildings

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Suzanne Daykin: iHubbub shedworker


"As a shedworker I wanted to let you know how much I have enjoyed looking at your site," writes Suzanne Daykin. "I now have Shed Envy for some of the amazing sheds I have spotted and I didn’t realise until now how many of us shedworkers there are! "In my shed I am working for www.iHubbub.com and I was wondering if readers would be interested in promoting their home businesses for free on our site by pinning their home business or freelance services to our map? Also, if any readers would like free publicity for their business or if they are a freelancer or an author, we are currently putting together articles on people that work from home, the details are here http://ihubbub.com/contribute-to-our-magazine." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Airbrushed micro caravan shed



Caravan or shed? If you're wondering which one to go for, then maybe this is the perfect solution, a micro caravan refurbished by Wizard Customs to look like it is built of wood, roof tiles included. Naturally, you can tow it too. Sleeps two. You can bid for it on ebay here. Thanks to Punk Caravan for the alert. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3rdSpace modular garden rooms
Tuesday posts are sponsored by 3rdSpace modular garden rooms.
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Monday, November 19, 2012

Nordic noir shedworking




With the new series of The Killing gripping the UK, garden2office has been busy paying homage to another Swedish icon, the Black Barn, designed by Stockholm architects Pinc Hus. The 30sq m studio will be used for interior design classes and features a wood burning stove, Swedish galvinised steel roof, 3.6m sliding doors and the company's unique closed panel insulated wall units with matt black feather edge cladding. Reindeer-pattern jumpers come as optional extras. -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

50 Sheds of Grey the movie?

It could happen. Twilight star actor Robert Pattinson has been linked with the film version of 50 Shades of Grey but he told the Mirror that" "I’ve only read bits of it. There’s a book called Fifty Sheds Of Grey, just a picture book of 50 grey sheds. I think that’s more my thing." Or as Aida Ekberg on gather puts it: "Who needs to see Ian Somerhalder spanking Alexis Bledel in the 50 Shades of Grey movie when they can check out Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson making out on top of a riding lawnmower in a dark and dirty shed?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Michael Rosen explores Roald Dahl's writing shed (video)

An interactive webcast with Dahl illustrator Quentin Blake and children's writer Michael Rosen who has a poke around inside Roald Dahl's writing hut starting at 16.45 on the timer. ----------------------------------------------------------
Saturday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Live in a potting shed


This three bedroom bungalow (on for £395,000 here) is a conversion of the former Abbotsfield House's potting shed in Abbotsfield, Wiveliscombe, Taunton, Somerset. There's all the usual stuff as well as a rather attractive walled garden, complete with its own hide and summerhouse, plus a large workshop which the agents say is ideal for carpentry or metalwork.



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Dunster House, the leading UK company for Log Cabins and Garden Offices sponsors Friday posts

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Peggy Riley: shedworker



Whitstable-based author, Peggy Riley, has written what is expected to be one of next year's best-selling novels, Amity and Sorrow, in a beautiful blue shed at the bottom of her garden, writes Shedworking's Literary Editor Sarah Salway.

The book, which is a story of God, sex and farming, will come out in March 2013, but is already gathering rave reviews from advance readers. And now the atmosphere inside the beach-hut themed shed moves from America to war-torn Germany and the Isle of Man as Peggy gathers inspiration for her second novel through the maps you can see behind her.

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Homestead Timber Buildings - Manufacturers of Quality Timber Buildings

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

International scent shedworking




Here's an attractive seasidey shedworking business selling scents and candles around the world - this garden office is a hub for communicating with manufacturers and agents in Asia while also dealing with UK distribution outlets.

It was build in Whitstable by eDEN Garden Rooms in the corner of a small, sea facing, garden with an overall height of 2.5m and just under 15m2 of office space. It features integrated, full height cupboards, oak flooring, French Doors and a tilt and turn window feature. The glazing is aluminium clad on the outside with a white wood finish internally: the aluminium is a dark grey and is designed to co-ordinate with the fascias and corner posts. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Multi-functional garden office

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Commute times falling for men, but rising for women

The amount of time spent commuting to and from work has fallen over the last six years for men but has increased for women, according to a TUC analysis of official figures published today to mark Commute Smart week, organised by Work Wise UK.

The average UK employee who commutes now spends 52.8 minutes per day travelling to and from work. This amounts to 4 hours and 24 minutes per week for a full-time worker or more than five weeks per year for an employee who works 44 weeks per year.

The TUC analysis of figures from the Labour Force Survey, which compares pre-recession commute times (2006) with the most recent available figures (2012), shows that while average commute times have edged down by 0.4 minutes per day, the trends vary considerably by gender and region.

Men tend to spend longer than women travelling to work and back, but their average travel to work times has fallen by 0.2 minutes a day to 58 minutes. The average commute time for female employees has increased by 0.6 minutes to 47.4 minutes.

Commute times vary considerably across the UK. Londoners have the longest average commute at 75 minutes, while workers in Wales have the shortest average commute at 41.4 minutes.

Men working in the East of England have experienced the sharpest rise in commute times - increasing by an average of 3.8 minutes to 65.2 minutes. Only Londoners now have longer commutes than those working in counties like Essex, Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire.

Male workers in Wales have experienced the sharpest drop in commute times, falling by 4.6 minutes to 41.4 minutes.

Commute times for female workers have increased most sharply in Scotland and London. Female workers in the capital have longer commutes than men working anywhere other than London.

The three regions with the sharpest falls in commute times are Wales, the North East and Yorkshire and the Humber. TUC analysis found that these regions have also experienced the sharpest increase in unemployment since the recession. These trends suggest there is a link between changing commute times and the health of local labour markets.

The TUC believes that the recent rise in part-time work, particularly amongst men, also helps to explain why commute times have fallen for men but increased for women.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "The average commuter spends the equivalent of more than five weeks a year just to get to work and back. With rising transport costs far outstripping pay rises, reducing the number of peak-time commutes would save both time and money for hard-pressed workers. Recent trends suggest there is a link between long commute times and longer hours in the office, with the growing number of men in part-time work having shorter journeys to work. This trend is concerning if it means part-time workers and those needing to balance work with caring responsibilities are being excluded from certain types of jobs."

Work Wise UK Chief Executive Phil Flaxton said: "Commute Smart week will remind employers that there is another opportunity to change attitudes and thinking in relation to working practises. As winter approaches, are we going to see business interrupted by poor weather and disrupted travel? Or should we grasp the opportunity by changing the way employees work and commute and introduce more flexibly to cut out these restrictive influences on business performance?

"More and more business are reviewing their working practises and thinking hard about how they manage people. Managing by outputs is the key, forget about presenteeism and concentrate on creating a workforce that is flexible, responsive and delivers the business plan. Commute Smart week provides a real opportunity to revise tired working practises, how and where people work and set about adopting flexible approaches to people management as a key component of effective change." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3rdSpace modular garden rooms
Tuesday posts are sponsored by 3rdSpace modular garden rooms.
Customise | Configure | Extend | Relocate

Monday, November 12, 2012

How one man grew a £2m business from his garden shed


A nice piece in London Loves Business about SpareRoom.co.uk founder Rupert Hunt on his flatshare website and its shedworking origins. Here's a snippet:
“I had broken up with a long-time girlfriend and a career was non-existent. So, I decided to move back with my parents in Cheshire and give the then IntoLondon a shot. I set-up an office in their shed, nothing glamorous – just a room full of spiders."
Thanks to Uncle Wilco from that other shed blog for the tipoff. -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

The weirdest shed advert you'll ever see

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Saturday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.

Friday, November 09, 2012

Shed-based beer book project looking for backers

Beerlab is a project combining two fine elements of our culture being financed on the increasingly popular kickstarter platform. Here's what they say about it:
Beerlab is a mildly irreverent exploration of homebrewing in an open source manner. Run by two guys from South Yorkshire (Kit Challis @kitchallis and Scott Beddow) and based in Sheffield - a beer mecca; it’s a year-long project to write a how-to book for the would-be homebrewer and open source tinkerer. We’ll be perfecting recipes, trying out different hops and yeasts, hacking together hardware and software to aid the brewing, fermenting and serving process, and sharing every experience, warts and all, with you. Whether you’re a novice tinkerer, brewer or both, the beerlab book will feature fun projects and builds to help you combine hacking with brewing. Each week we'll keep you updated on progress, post the recipes and tasting notes so you can suggest improvements.
More details about it and how you can help fund it a bit here.
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Dunster House, the leading UK company for Log Cabins and Garden Offices sponsors Friday posts