Choosing a shed - Pilgrims Forge

Those of you suffering from shepherds' hut withdrawal symptoms will be pleased with today's choice, Bedfordshire-based Pilgrims Forge who do indeed design and build shepherds' - and gamekeepers' - huts. Features include a full-size turntable for maximum stability, hand made wheels, pivoting axle with adjustable stops for levelling, and handforged ironmongery throughout. There's a choice of outside cladding (Douglas Fir, Oak, or corrugated tin sheet) and oak flooring. Options include insulation, stable or french door and iron wheels or inflatable tyres for road use.There's also an attractive photo gallery here.
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Our Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office
specialists.
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Choosing a shed - Glassbox

We mentioned Peterborough-based Glassbox in passing recently but it's worthy of more than six words. As you can see, there's lots of glass but other nice features include frameless rooflights, attractive louvres, sliding folding doors and a privacy screen which extends out onto the deck. Options include underfloor heating and remote controlled light dimmers. Glassbox proudly trump their eco qualities, especially their thermally wonderful glazing and passive solar gain, as well as the usual managed timber sources, recyclable materials, etc.

Choosing a shed - Outbuilds

Swansea-based Outbuilds design and supply bespoke garden offices, fully plastered, insulated and with green roof and sheep's wool insulation possibilities. Interestingly, each shedlike atmosphere is built in their workshop, the proto-shedworker comes to give it the green light, then it is reassembled in your back garden. What's also interesting is that unlike most garden office suppliers, they charge per square-footage rather than per model.

Choosing a shed - Garden2Office (plus exclusive offer)

Mark Ramuz from Surrey-based Garden2Office writes to tell Shedworking readers about his Swedish garden office business.

"Your friggebod coverage was inspiring. As a friggebod importer I suppose I'm bound to say that but there were some great sheds. Here are a few pictures of the sustainable buildings I import. I think we're the only company who can offer potential shedworkers a modular kit that they can put together themselves. We also offer a full install service and a 'get you started' service to help with the trickier bits. All our buildings feature timber triple glazed windows that arrive from the factory fitted into the fully insulated wall units. Our buildings are so well insulated that the same system is used for housebuilding in Scandinavia."

There's a nice gallery of their models herewhich have steel roofs, are built of timber and have various cladding options. "All units are built to Sweden’s highest ‘P-Mark’ standard for rain resistance," says Mark, "and the clever ‘tilt and turn’ mechanism makes the window become tighter as the wind force increases." Mark is also very generously offering Shedworking readers a little incentive - a free heat exchange unit (worth £350) if they buy a building. So mention us if you get in touch.

Choosing a shed - Carterton

For those of you who prefer concrete to wood or metal, Carterton Concrete have several garden office models, with a roof constructed of 5” corrugated Cement Fibre material, heavy duty galvanised steel strengtheners and the latest "Strux fibre" technology, with stonewall or brick effect finish.

Choosing a shed - Garden Haze

South Yorkshire-based Garden Haze has just launched in a fanfare of media spotlights, their goal 'a professional product for professional people, a big business solution in a small business package'. What marks them out from many other garden offices is that theirs are not clad in wood and have aluminium frames which should not crack, warp or discolour. There are other nice options including underfloor heating, dado cable management and, my favourite, a pyramid rooflight. There are three models - the Premier, Professinal and Executive - in a range of sizes. They are also keen to emphasise their green credentials and argue they are just as green, if not greener, than wooden garden offices. Interestingly, Garden Haze has been working with Doncaster Business School to get the project off the ground.

Choosing a shed - Sanctuary Garden Offices

Devon-based Sanctuary Garden Offices is one of the longer-established garden office specialists, building each shedworking atmosphere from scratch from their own workshops. The general appearance is quite traditional and the general spec is:
• External cedar cladding – natural or painted
• Wooden joinery – single or double glazed
• Full choice of roof finishes – slate, cedar, clay
• Lead flashings
• Full insulation to British Standards
• Full wiring loom incorporating heating, power, lighting and communications.
Options include real slate or clay tile roof, painted or waney edge exterior cladding, decked verandah, vaulted ceilings, Velux windows, lead finials, and hardwood flooring.

Their sister company is Sanctuary Summerhouses which have a wide range of other shedlike structures which would be suitable for less allround shedworking but are equally as attractive.

Choosing a shed - Garden Lodges

Bedfordshire-based Garden Lodges have a range of garden office models as well as rather larger marketing suites. But what really caught my eye was their Micro Pod and if you're after a garden office to fit into a rather small space, this could be for you. The smallest is theirMicro Pod i64 (pictured above and below) at a really rather titchy 1.83m x 1.22m and comes with a built-in desk. There is also a solar power option. Garden Lodges has also recently joined up with Jacuzzi UK to provide new hydrotherapy centres across the UK.

Choosing a shed - More Space UK

While England is pretty well covered with garden office suppliers, the same cannot be said for Scotland. A notable exception is More Space UK who use use only Canadian Red Cedar Imported from British Columbia for their builds (one reason they give is that it smells nice when wet) which they describe as "designed & tested in Scotland to withstand all weather conditions possible". As well as the normal must-haves, More Space also offer to install an alarm system and CCTV to protect your shed. Above is their smallest model, The Mayfair, with a working floor area of 3sq metres, French doors, deck, and underfloor heating. Below is the largest model, The Sheridan, which includes a kitchen and shower.

Choosing a shed - Compton Buildings

Beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder but to be honest, I can't say that Compton's concrete garden buildings do much for me. However, you may quite rightly beg to differ. As they say, Compton's buildings are built to last, are virtually maintenance-free, are not going to burn down (a major consideration for shedworkers like myself whose garden office is stuffed to the gills with paper) and are very secure. If this is the kind of thing you like, then do have a look around. Personally, I prefer their timber smoke shelters.

Choosing a shed - Quality Fit Timber Buildings

Quality Fit Timber Buildings stock a wide range of the Holland-based Lugarde garden offices (sectional buildings constructed from tongue-and-grooved interlocking beams stacked on top of each other) but they also have their own alternative bespoke model built with a studwork frame, finished internally with plasterboard and clad externally with that old shedworking favourite western red cedar. Doors and windows are powder coated aluminium, while the floor, roof and walls are fully insulated as standard.

Choosing a shed - inhus

Paul Raven from Suffolk-based inhus has been in touch to tell Shedworking about the company's range of garden offices which was born from a need to find a company that could supply an modern garden office that came complete with all the works to run a normal office and enhance the garden. Here's what Paul says:

"So having got seriously frustrated we decided (as our main business is working on 3D cad systems) that we would design and manufacture our own building: this is a modular based wall/ceiling assembly and can be erected and supplied within 3/5 days including the red western cedar cladding. We have opted to use a faced melamine MDF board for the interior walls so not to use “wet” trades like plastering - this eliminates cracking.

"The inhus uses a roof material called EPDM or Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer, a synthetic rubber material made by Firestone. We have chosen this to guarantee a watertight roof for 25 years. The EPDM is a one piece roof sheet that means no joins, no nails, no tears, no leaks, no maintenance, this means you can sleep safely at night in any weather. Using the EDPM system we can also offer an Eco-friendly green roof system. The building is also fully insulated from the floor, walls and ceilings. We are using a UPVc 28mm double glazing, however wood / aluminum alternatives can be offer including bi-folded doors system should the customer require."

shed24

Henry Brown from shed24 - design and concept development for exhibitions, retail spaces, and museums - has been in touch to share some of his shedworking atmospheres. He writes:

"We have been experimenting with techniques of ship and aircraft construction, crates, flat packing, and the use of sheet materials, with the aim of building cheap, lightweight structures that can be easily adapted, resulting in the ‘shed-o-matic’ series [pictured above]. S410 and S322 are collaborations with industry to explore versions of the classic ‘static’ - factory built, self contained and which might become plug-in home extensions, retail spaces, garden offices, coastguard huts ....

"We’ve also been talking to individual clients about bespoke home office units, formed from reclaimed materials and being site specific solutions. We are currently collating our collection of images to form the sb(x)e web site (small building (experimental) establishment). The collection celebrates un-designed, artless, accidental, improvised and banal small structures and spaces from around the world. Shed24 also design exhibitions. "

There are plenty of interesting designs on the shed24 web site including a design for the garden office project pictured below.

Choosing a shed - Squirrel Designs

Wiltshire-based and family-run Squirrel Design - David and Sarah Trotter - design and build bespoke garden offices but are also specialists in tree houses, all timber from sustainable, managed woodland sources. There are lots of enticing photos of treehouse construction on the site (don't be deterred if you don't have a large tree in your garden - they can use discreet support legs and can build around smaller trees).

Choosing a shed - Cock-a-Hoop

West Sussex-based Cock-a-Hoop not only build bespoke garden offices, they also take in treehouses, wendy houses (with Perspex windows for safety), hen coops and stabling buildings. Pictured above is an 8' x 6' stilted house with 8' x 6' verandah and extra height to eaves. Below is a treehouse with a 360˚ viewing platform built onto and supported around an ancient oak, leading to a second small platform from where you can reach an 8ft x 6ft cabin, built 20ft up in the branches (the ladder has a pulley system which can be raised to keep outsiders out).And finally, a garden office on land, 10ft x 18ft with a cedar tiled roof.

Choosing a shed - Nordic Lodge

Surrey-based Nordic Lodge imports timber from renewable Siberian forests to produce its garden offices, log homes and log cabins, some of them really quite large. Above is their Stockbroker garden office, a 6m x 8m x 4m log cabin on the outskirts of London with 160mm thick wall construction and a large veranda 6m x 1.8m as well as interior kitchen and bathroom. Below is a Surrey garden office build, stained blue to suit an adjacent building for an architect. The building is assembled on a horizontal concrete raft on sloping ground: again there are four rooms including kitchen, bathroom, reception and office.

Choosing a shed - Rexton Garden Offices

Rexton Garden Offices, who operate only in south east England, have half a dozen models including the delightful octagonal Pavilion above, which measures 3.60m x 5.85m and has space for three office desks. As an option the roof can be fitted with a lantern, which has sixteen openable windows. The Modern, pictured below, has an elliptic roof made of titan zinc and other options include oak floor boards and copper roofing.

Choosing a shed - Alternative Space

London-based small family businessAlternative Space have two models - a Self Build EcoDen (pictured above with deck) and the Classic. The EcoDen, which can be dismantled and reassembled if you move house, comes with a green roof option (others include a rainwater harvesting system, decking, and open pergola) and in three sizes, 2m x 2.4m, 2.4m x 2.4m and 2.4m x 3.6m (all internal measurements). An integrated modular furniture system is also supplied as standard. Below is the Classic with a green roof. Like an increasing number of garden office suppliers, Alternative Space say their goal is to design and supply only products which have a minimal environmental impact and make a positive environmental input. There's an attractive gallery of completed projects here.And here is the team sitting on a shed.

Choosing a shed - Guy Martin

Somerset-based Guy Martin is a sculptor and designer with both ecologically sensitive domestic interior furniture and garden offices under his belt. Above is Anya's Studio, a portrait artist's garden studio built from the ever-popularWestern Red Cedar from Dorset woodlands. The platform is supported by four cedar poles, each sitting on its own concrete pad to minimise footings. "Its elevation above the ground addresses a potential flood risk which, in turn, provides a delightful view across the garden," says Guy. Below is the Moonhouse which Guy describes like this:

"Spiritual garden retreat. Built on an elevated platform to accommodate the slope. Four stripped pole (tree) construction, supporting cedar shingle roof. The walls are highly insulated as thermal and sound barrier, using straw bales from local farmer, rendered in a lime base, and finished with a coloured lime wash. The front windows and double doors are reclaimed. Heated by a small wood-buring stove. Hand crafted on site."

Choosing a shed - Taylors Garden Buildings

Norfolk-based Taylors Garden Buildings are one of the biggest names in the business, established in 1953. They cover pretty much all the bases, manufacturing, supplying and installing both their own large range of sheds and shedlike atmospheres (see here for Shedworking's review of their beach hut) as well as other companies' products. Among their client list is Big Brother, Fujitsu, NHS direct and Emmerdale TV studios. Taylors say they are committed to being as environmentally friendly as possible producing green roofs, bee houses, compost toilets and cordwood buildings. It's hard to pick favourites, but I like the Mansfield Garden Office above and the observatory shed below.Taylors also very kindly were a major sponsor of the first National Shed Week last year.