We've been having great fun with a snazzy little thing on the Heritage Garden Studios web site. If you go to their case studies section, you'll find numerous examples of their work which are interesting to read, but best of all (to the Shedworking staff's easily distracted minds on a Friday) are the little 'before and after' sliders which show you what it suggests on the tin. Well worth a little go at lunchtime.
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A rather nice painting studio from Urban Escapes with a large Balau hardwood sun deck and pebbled barbecue area with water feature. The owners live in a ground floor flat and the 4.3m x 3.6m garden office fits into the corner of a larger garden redesign which includes a long granite path. More images at the link above.
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The latest build from Garden Spaces, a music room/recording studio with acoustic porch which measures 4.5m x 3.45m x 2.5m.
No planning or building consent was required.
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The report contains a flurry of facts gleaned from interviews with 2,600 people, but of particular interest is that more than a quarter are planning to make a major overhaul of their garden this year. More specifically, 18% plan to build a shed and 16% to turn an existing shed/outbuilding into a garden office.
“Whether your garden needs a little TLC or a complete makeover, investing in your outdoor spaces can really help elevate the appeal and value of a home and one you can be proud of too," said Mike Fairman, CEO at Checkatrade. "When planning your garden revamp, make sure you use a reputable and checked professional to help bring those ideas to life.’’
Just over a third of those interviewed said they would prefer to use a professionally trained tradesperson rather than have a go at building work themselves.
“Homeowners are more resilient than ever," added Fairman, "not letting the cost-of-living deter them from home improvement projects. With the current uncertainty of the housing market, increased investments in spaces like lofts suggest homeowners are looking to make the most of what they have versus selling up and purchasing another property, and are seeking support from experienced tradespeople to help.”
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An appropriately lovely setting for this Mini Office garden office model from Garden Affairs. It belongs to Karen Knowlton who runs The Garden Goddess garden design company in Bath.
"I love being in the garden surrounded by plants," says Kaen of her garden office. "I am a garden designer/horticulturalists, so working in the office in the summer, with the door open is perfect. With the particular design of this wooden office, I noticed that in a year I had solitary bees using the gaps between the wood horizontals as their home which as an organic garden designer and environmentalist I love.
"I have a dedicated space now where my drawing board and computer both reside. Everything surrounds me and is to hand so I am not hunting down information and everything is organised! The main benefit is that the house is not cluttered with work and when I work I am more focused and not being distracted by household chores. In the summer evenings, when I often work till late, it is lovely being in the garden with the door open."
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An interesting blog post by Qube Buildings looks at the whys and wherefores of environmentally-sensitive techniques in the construction of garden offices and studios. It's well worth a read touching on issues such as zero-waste building, rainwater harvesting, passive solar design techniques, and selecting building materials. Here's a snippet:
"Incorporating passive solar design techniques into your garden studio can help to create a sustainable and comfortable work environment. By utilising natural elements such as sunlight and thermal mass, you can reduce energy consumption and minimize your environmental impact. With proper orientation, window placement, insulation, thermal mass, natural ventilation, and shading, you can create a space that is both functional and environmentally responsible."
Image courtesy Qube Buildings
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Sussex-based Andrew Paine Architecture designed and built their own garden office premises, a marvellous shedworking space which has just made the 2023 RIBA South East Awards shortlist.
It's a fascinating space, constructed almost entirely using offcuts of timber from local building sites, a demolition site in East London and waste timber from the Mid Sussex Wood Recycling Project. The only major new elements are aluminium-framed double-glazed doors and sanitaryware.
Highlights of the build include:
Here's what they say about it:
"The result is a warm, open place to work which also doubles as a music rehearsal room and a space for the occasional overnight guest through the use of folding office furniture. While we are aware that there are a large number of proprietary garden rooms now available, we hope that this experimental building offers a little more both to the user and the environment."
A charming build by architects ByOthers for their own team, a timber-framed garden office studio in South London contructed during the pandemic lockdown era. It comes in at 30 sqm and includes a lavatory and kitchen as well as plenty of work and meeting space. Here's what they say about it"
"Seeking to reduce embodied carbon, we took a zero-concrete approach as a starting point. The studio is constructed from lightweight timber and sits on a timber raft built on screwpile foundations that were installed manually and mitigate the need for any concrete in strip foundations."
Lots more photos of the build at their site via the link above.
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Using a decade of various UK labour market wellbeing data, the independent collaborating centre study looked at life satisfaction, happiness, anxiety and the 'feeling that the things we do in life are worthwhile'. One of the key findings was that higher life satisfaction was reported by people who work at home or adjacent to home, for example in a garage or garden office.
Other findings included a positive relationship between gross annual salary and mean life satisfaction, and higher life satisfaction and lower anxiety levels when occupation is permanent, regardless of occupation type.
Image courtesy Garden Affairs
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The UK's premier shepherd's hut supplier Plankbridge has been hard at work on its website and just launched a brand new version. It's well worth having a wander around, with features on all its huts, co-owner Richard Lee's thoughts on #hutlife, and frankly mouthwatering galleries of images. "Paddy and Rob at Sentinel have put in a huge amount of work to put it together," said Richard. "Interesting to see how it’s received. I’m looking forward to working on it some more this week."
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* aluminium single doors with acoustic glazing colour leading to the acoustic porch
* acoustic solid door with acoustic drop down seal, threshold seal and acoustic perimeter seal
* acoustic double skinned and double glazed fixed window
* thermowood cladding (kiln dried & secret fix) painted with wood stain ebony oil
* composite decking with step in Charcoal Black
* Flat EPDM roof with aluminium roof trims
* wall heater with smart control
* acoustic vent
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Just over a third of people working in the UK interviewed by LinkedIn for its new 2023 Workplace Learning Report: Building the Agile Future claim that they would leave their job if their employer insisted that they return to the office full-time.
Ngaire Moyes, LinkedIn’s country manager for the UK, said: “We know that flexibility brings all sorts of benefits, including being a huge motivator for employees, meaning it’s crucial for employers to consider this when it comes to attracting top talent. The pandemic saw a revolution in how people work, and for the majority of businesses, the great experiment in remote working was more successful than anyone ever expected. Three years on, we have adjusted to a new, flexible way of working, and of course most people don’t want to go back to how things were pre-Covid."
Image courtesy Garden Spaces
Back in December, The Scottish Men's Sheds Association (SMSA) asked its members and the public to support its petition which was sent to the First Minister for Scotland and Deputy First Minister for Scotland calling on the Scottish Government to reverse their decision to stop core funding of the national association. And the good news is that they seemed to have listened.
As reported in the Daily Record, the Government has announced that the £75,000 funding, which was to have been cut in April, will now go ahead as in previous years and continue for 2023/24, as well as funds available via the new Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund (SIAL).
In addition, the SMSA has received a funding boost from the National Lottery Community Fund’s Awards for All Scotland programme to upgrade vital resources for its growing membership.
The association plans to implement a new Customer Relations Management database interlinked with an upgraded website to maintain records securely online for its 3,200+ membership and 202 Men’s Sheds across Scotland. It will also increase the level of information held to enable improved recording and monitoring to feed into the charity’s long-term development plans and support delivery.
SMSA Chief Executive Officer Jason Schroeder said: “An Awards for All grant back in 2016 paid to launch our original website, when the Movement was in its early stages, and the resource has certainly been well utilised supplying Scottish Shedders with the resources required to set up and sustain Men’s Sheds across the nation. As the Movement grew substantially to what it is today, it became apparent that we require to record the increase and variety of support requests being received, speed up our processes, improve navigation so members can find what they are looking for more quickly and store wider key information on the sector to report back to our stakeholders – members, board, funders, partners and supporters.
“On average, we are receiving a staggering 40 new individual members each month to this Movement which is remarkable however, the current manual administrative processes are profoundly impacting on the time of the SMSA team. We plan to simplify our systems for joining the Association but also for our popular ‘Find a Shed’ map which receives thousands of hits each month and make things much easier to find in our online ‘one-stop shop’ members’ portal.
“Through this second award from the National Lottery Community Fund Scotland, we will be able to easier maintain data on the Movement safely and securely and be able to evidence and report on its immense success and impact more efficiently – freeing the team up to support the nation’s Shed volunteers.”
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A useful checklist from Cabin Master about ways to ensure your garden office or studio is fine for working in all year round rather than just the warmer days of summer. It looks at heating, insulation, double glazing, furniture, and south facing orientation. Here are the key takeaways but it's worth clicking the link above to read the whole thing (it's quite short):
Picture courtesy Cabin Master
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Lots to digest in the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics in their analysis of homeworkers and hybrid working between September 2022 and January 2023. Here are the main points:
Among working adults who have worked in the last seven days, 16% worked from home only and 28% reported both working from home and travelling to work
Workers in the highest income band, those who were educated to degree level or above, and those in professional occupations were most likely to report home only or hybrid working
Self-employed workers were more than twice as likely to work from home only (32%) compared to employees (14%).
London residents reported the highest levels of hybrid working across Great Britain, with 4 in 10 workers both working from home and travelling to work.
In the most recent period (25 January to 5 February 2023) around 40% of working adults reported having worked from home at some point in the past seven days.
And these are the authors' general thoughts on where we stand:
"Throughout 2022 the percentage of working adults reporting having worked from home has varied between 25% and 40%, without a clear upward or downward trend, indicating that homeworking is resilient to pressures such as the end of restrictions and increases in the cost of living."
Image courtesy Garden Spaces
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Arctic Cabins has opened a useful new show site at Studley Garden Centre in the West Midlands in addition to their existing Nottingham offering. It has a good range of their BBQ huts (four different sizes) and Cabin Master garden buildings (offices, gyms, garden rooms) for in-person viewing. And for those looking for something extra, there is also an indoore hot tub showroom and swim spa centre. The company will be manning the area weekdays 10am-4pm, Saturdays 9am-5pm, and Sundays 10am-4.30pm.
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The Shedworking staff have a penchant for garden office sketches and here is a lovely example from Scrace Architects for a his and hers studio for a couple looking to work from home.
You can see how their charming sketch below for a summerhouse turns into the actual thing at this post on their site.
The latest issue of the Idler magazine features my regular shed column, this time focusing the on the writing hut belonging to Dylan Thomas. Available from all over, especially Waterstones and WH Smith, but best via subscription direct via this special offer.
Nothing compares to the experience of working in a garden office you have built yourself. In 1948, Arthur Miller put together a white clapboard cabin in Roxbury, Connecticut, specifically as a base in which to write Death of a Salesman, even though he had never built anything similar in his life (he said the hardest part was putting up the roof rafters by himself). As he built, he put together the play in his mind, although he did also make use of his desk, an old recycled door. It was extended a bit in the mid-1970s, and a deck was added. There is a great page about the studio on his official website here which includes photos of it inside and out by one of Magnum's star photographers, Inge Morath. "Nothing disturbs him there, not even the view," she wrote. There are also more recent ones by Kurt Kaindl.
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