RHS teams up with Crane to produce RHS Cube

The Royal Horticultural Society is collaborating with Crane Garden Buildings to come up with a garden studio they've christened the RHS Cube which is inspired by its RHS Hilltop horticultural scientific centre of excellence at RHS Garden Wisley.

It comes in various standard sizes ranging from 2.5m x 2.5m to 4.5m x 7m, with an optional 0.25m or 1.25m veranda to the front. It has all the usual insulation and electrics elements you'd expect in a modern garden office build, with window and partition personalisation options.

“As a proudly Norfolk-based, family-run business," said Peter Mortin, Business Development Manager for Crane, "we are thrilled to be working with the UK’s favourite gardening charity and gaining inspiration from its work and great gardens. The RHS Cube is a marvellous introduction to the RHS Garden Building Collection, which we are sure will receive a very enthusiastic reception from customers. Sustainability is also top of the agenda for many, including us, as we use high-quality products for durability lasting decades, eco-friendly materials and responsible building practices to minimise our environmental impact. We are also registered with the PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification), meaning that we endorse and promote sustainable forestry practices.”

The Cube will aunching at select Crane show sites this spring and make appearances at RHS Malvern Spring Festival, RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival and the Royal Windsor Horse Show. The Cube garden studio is the first in an ongoing RHS Garden Building Collection in partnership with Crane, with more designs scheduled to be unveiled by the end of the year. 

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Wednesday posts are sponsored by Booths Garden Studios, the UK's No.1 supplier of zero maintenance and portable garden studios

Tiger launches two new show sites in Gloucestershire

Woodlands Home & Garden Group has launched two new show sites in Gloucestershire for its specialist garden building retailer brand, Tiger, in Gloucester and Whitminster.

Operated in partnership with Thermal Rooms Limited, the new Whitminster location is the third retail outlet opened by Tiger this year, taking the total nationwide to 12.

The newly-built display site in Gloucester will have more than 40 garden buildings on show, making it one of the largest garden showsites in the region. These buildings represent the full range of the Tiger collection, from the compact Tiger Tool Tower to the new Obsidian 70mm Insulated Log Cabin and a Tiger Modular custom-built insulated corner garden room.

The Gloucester site also features an extensive selection of the most popular Tiger buildings, including the Tiger Contemporary Retreat Summerhouse, modular TigerFlex® Shiplap Apex Shed, and Aura 44mm Log Cabin, available with quick Pick A Day delivery.

The Whitminster site is at Highfields Garden World, with two dozen buildings on show including a purpose-built insulated garden room from the Tiger Modular collection, and the Galena, a 70mm Insulated Log Cabin from the new Black Tiger range. The Whitminster site also features an extensive selection of the most popular Tiger buildings, including the Tiger Vista Corner Summerhouse, bestselling Tiger Shiplap Pent Shed, and Procas 44mm Log Cabin.

This latest Tiger show site and comes a few months after Tiger’s deal with British Garden Centres to place show sites in more than 30 garden centres across the UK. 

“The Whitminster show site is the perfect location for our new store," said Sam Jenkinson, Head of Marketing at Tiger, "based in the popular, thriving garden centre at Highfield Garden World. With two sites now in the Gloucester area, the Tiger brand has a great profile in the region, which will only get stronger as word of mouth spreads.” 

The Gloucester show site is at Gloucester Garden Centre, Bath Rd, Gloucester GL10 3DP and the Whitminster show site is at Highfield Garden World, Bristol Rd, Whitminster GL2 7PB.
Both are open 10.30am - 5.30pm Monday to Saturday and 11am - 3pm on Sunday. 

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Monday posts are sponsored by Cosy Garden Rooms, the UK's No. 1 bespoke garden room designer and builder. 

Friday Finery: Plankbridge's new Beach House

A gorgeous bespoke build for this week's Finery from shepherd's hut specialists Plankbridge. This one-off was built for a client on the Mediterranean coast, and fitted out with Fired Earth tiles, paints and bathroom products. Features include sustainable homegrown cedar cladding, panoramic windows, exposed ceiling trusses and wooden deck. 

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A garden office adds £20,000 to the average property's value

More confirmation that a garden office or studio (or indeed other shedlike build) makes your property more valuable comes from property specialists Regency Living.

Its latest report indicates that adding a new physical structure in the form of a garden room or office means you should be looking at an average added value of around 7.5% which, based on the current UK average house price of £268,548 is equivalent to £20,141. 

Similar, though lower, additions also suggest benefits including a conservatory (£18,798) and prefab summer house (£13,427). Even a simple shed or storage space with a concrete floor will boost your property value by 2.5% (£6,714).

Sales & Marketing Director at Regency Living, Tim Simmons said: “Maximising garden space is always a good way to add value to the home. When it comes to property value, a home is worth exactly what someone is willing to pay for it, so if you’re creating something unusual and a step above the competition, even in modest ways, you’re going to capture buyer attention and inevitably increase the price they’re willing to pay.”

Image courtesy Booths Garden Studios

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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master, bespoke garden rooms and offices designed, manufactured and installed throughout the UK

 

Multi-purpose garden room and office

Here's an example of one of the most popular garden room builds at the moment from Cosy Garden Rooms, a multi-purpose garden room with separate storage area (in this case replacing a dilapidated summerhouse).

It's a 6m x 3m garden room, built on a concrete base. An internal partition wall creates a 1.2m storage area equipped with its own external UPVC solid panel door for easy access.

The front and right sides are clad in composite cedar slats for a natural and maintenance-free aesthetic. To reduce costs, the rear and left sides were clad in durable grey Hardie board composite, a practical choice for areas not visible from the main view.

Other features include 3m-wide double sliding patio doors,a full-height corner window, 300mm overhang along the front and right-hand sides, and an infrared heater. 

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Wednesday posts are sponsored by Booths Garden Studios, the UK's No.1 supplier of zero maintenance and portable garden studios

Woodlands Home & Garden Group grows retail network with second showsite in Scotland

Specialist garden building manufacturer and retailer Woodlands Home & Garden Group has opened its second retail outlet in Scotland. The new show site is located in Glencarse, Perth, as Woodlands and the Tiger brand as they expand their presence across the country.

The Tiger garden building franchise, launched in partnership with Wood N Garden Timber Buildings, features more than 50 garden buildings in an 11,000 sq.ft display area. The location in Glencarse has been operated by Wood N Garden for decades, and having established a successful reputation across the region, the company decided to partner exclusively with Tiger to boost their growth.

The new site will also benefit from the operational launch of Woodlands’ large warehouse and distribution facility at its sister site in Glenrothes, Fife. This will ensure Scottish consumers can enjoy the same  levels of service, delivery and installation to other UK customers.

Ross Moran, Chief Executive at Woodlands Home & Garden Group said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Wood N Garden Timber Buildings, with their rich family heritage of delivering high quality garden buildings with excellent customer service in Scotland. We have enjoyed a really positive, long-standing relationship with their whole organisation, and we are delighted that they want to take our collaboration to the next level. We believe Scotland is a really important and exciting region for us, and we look forward to a bright future for Tiger across the country.

"The new Tiger franchise, which is our second in Scotland and our 10th overall, is a significant landmark for Tiger’s offline strategy, creating a network of franchise-operated locations across the UK to complement our existing online success and build on our position as Britain’s market leader in garden buildings.”

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Monday posts are sponsored by Cosy Garden Rooms, the UK's No. 1 bespoke garden room designer and builder. 

Friday Finery: The Roots of Wellbeing studio

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show’s Houseplant Studios section is once again sponsored by Malvern Garden Buildings this year. One of the most interesting looks to be The Roots of Wellbeing studio by Botanic York which describes it as "a cosy and comfortable space to live and work in retreat from the chaos of modern life. Trailing plants fill the walls and dangle from the ceiling to create a feeling of being immersed in plants. Visitors brush past curtains of greenery to enter the inside jungle where plants are used to delineate an office or workspace."

The designers say the studio is very much focused on managing a healthy work-life balance, and how greenery can enhance remote working inside a "jungle-inspired office". Features will include hanging troughs with trailing plants, a reclaimed table for working surrounded by herbs, with a living wall on the outside of the build.

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

Beehive garden studios

It's always nice to see garden office designers thinking outside the box. Beehive offers a fully bespoke service but it's the company's trademark design which looks like a traditional ‘skep’ beehive that catches the eye. The key element is the use of natural cedar shingles, but it comes with everything else you'd want in a garden office or studio (decent insulation, various heating options, range of internal finishing possibilities, double-glazed windows) all within a stud work superstructure made from kiln dried pressure-treated timbers, with sheet materials  a combination of OSB (Orientated Strand Board) and structural birch plywood. 

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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master, bespoke garden rooms and offices designed, manufactured and installed throughout the UK

 

Spectacular Springfield treehouse goes on the market

A truly spectacular treehouse, ideal for garden office use, has just come on the market in Northumberland.

Springfield Treehouse was designed and build managed by Napper Architects of Newcastle who were also behind the iconic Alnwick Treehouse in 2004, built by Sir Robert McAlpine. Springfield is actually a twin treehouse with two turrets, both with two floors and inside ladder access, a bridge joining them together.  

It's on with various folk including Finest Properties and Sanderson Young with a £5.75m price tag which includes nearly three acres of grounds and a six bedroom house, as well as a greenhouse, gardener’s store and additional shed, plus a four-car garage.

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Wednesday posts are sponsored by Booths Garden Studios, the UK's No.1 supplier of zero maintenance and portable garden studios

 

Garden studio with Devon views

A really gorgeous multi-use garden studio build from Carpenter Oak in southern Devon which replaced a previous delapidated shed and greenhouse. The main feature is this impressive barn-style interior with exposed oak beams, plus bi-fold glazed doors, and smashing views of the hills outside.

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Monday posts are sponsored by Cosy Garden Rooms, the UK's No. 1 bespoke garden room designer and builder. 

Friday Finery: Gothic garden office windows

This week's Finery comes from the Posh Shed Company whose Victorian Gothic-inspired windows are not only very attractive but also UV-efficient and double-glazed. 

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

 

Kitting out your new greenhouse

As we've mentioned before on Shedworking, greenhouses can be used as part of a garden office lifestyle. Cheshire-based family-run White Cottage Greenhouses have been in touch with some suggestions about important details to consider when setting up your greenhouse space (pictured above is its Arley model):

Cedar staging and shelving
 
Having a decent area to work and display your plants and crops is essential in any kind of greenhouse whether it’s a working house or used more for entertaining and relaxing. Staging, at table height, is needed to allow you to easily work with and display your plants. Shelving can help you to maximise the space in your greenhouse and is specifically needed for trailing species. Using staging and shelving of different levels also enhances the beauty of your greenhouse. Plants are elevated and precious species can be seen and displayed clearly.

Shading and climate control
 
Shades and blinds help to regulate the temperature and light levels inside a greenhouse and prevent plants being burnt by intense sunlight or affected by harmful UV rays.

Lighting
 
As well as lighting the interior for working, artificial light in a greenhouse helps with plant growth. Artificial light can support plants when natural sunlight is insufficient. This can extend daylight hours, improve plant productivity, and help enable year-round production.

Window boards
 
Used to cover the top surface of the brickwork inside the greenhouse, window boards create attractive internal windowsills. A beautiful design detail in their own right, window boards also provide an extra surface for small pots, accessories or tools.

Floor grates
 
Cast-iron floor grates add a beautiful period design detail to greenhouse floors. They also serve a number of useful functions. Floor grates (if placed over a drainage channel) improve drainage, enhance ventilation, and help maintain cleanliness by preventing water buildup and allowing dirt to be swept away.

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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master, bespoke garden rooms and offices designed, manufactured and installed throughout the UK

 

How has hybrid working affected city centres?

An interesting report from Centre for Cities suggests, perhaps unsurprisingly, that debit and credit card transactions show hybrid working has led to the UK’s city centres taking a lower share of weekday spending than before the pandemic.

Centre for Cities – a research and policy organisation which aims to improve the UK’s urban economies –  compared in-person spending in 2019 and 2024 by city centre workers in London and nine other large UK cities, Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield.

It found weekday spending shifted away from city centres to workers’ home neighbourhoods during that period. The largest shift was in groceries purchases, and the share of spending in pubs, bars and eateries saw a modest shift from city centres to areas within a short distance of workers’ homes.

After-work socialising in London is now most likely to happen on a Thursday in 2024. In 2019, Fridays accounted for the highest share of all city-centre workers’ pub and bar spending, 25 per cent, falling to under a fifth in 2024. This corresponds with higher office attendance rates on Thursdays.

Across all other large UK cities, the share of pub and bar spending happening from Monday to Friday was lower in 2024 than before the Covid pandemic. Saturday has become by far the most popular day accounting for almost one in every £3 spent in pubs and bars.

Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities said: “The data shows that hybrid working patterns have had a knock-on impact on spending by workers in city centres, with a likely impact on the takings of shops, bars and restaurants. As the world of work continues to change, where we end up in terms of days in the office will have implications for how vibrant the high streets around our offices will be.”

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Wednesday posts are sponsored by Booths Garden Studios, the UK's No.1 supplier of zero maintenance and portable garden studios

 

New beach huts improve Southsea accessibility

Portsmouth's first accessible beach huts have been installed on Southsea seafront by Portsmouth City Council which says the event marks "a significant step towards inclusivity and accessibility at the beach".

Available for booking through its Seafront Services, these specially designed beach huts are equipped with amenities including a kettle, fridge, cupboard, deck chairs, and decorative items, ensuring a comfortable and enjoyable experience for all visitors.

Key features of the accessible beach hut include an accessible path leading down the beach towards the sea, and ramps providing entry from the promenade into the beach hut.

Laura Collinson from the Accessible Beach Campaign group said: “I’m so pleased that Portsmouth City Council have installed these accessible beach huts. Our campaign group has been asking for better access and it’s great to see the results. The shingle beach makes access to the water extremely difficult but we are working towards making this happen with the PCC seafront team."

Cllr Pitt, Leader of Portsmouth City Council said: “It’s great to be able to offer these accessible beach huts. Through these projects we are making sure that when people need additional help to live their lives, it is there for them. This is a really important step into making Portsmouth accessible and inclusive for all."

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Monday posts are sponsored by Cosy Garden Rooms, the UK's No. 1 bespoke garden room designer and builder. 

 

Friday Finery: garden room with cantilever canopy

The Shedworking team has been admiring the look of this garden office from BGR Designs all week. Yes, it's got a rather nice corner bifold and door, but it's the canopy design extending over the decking area that's been impressing us with its copper rain chain detail. 

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

 

Bespoke artist’s studio in Cambridge

Another good example of how small spaces are as good for garden offices as enormous ones. This insulated bespoke artist's studio comes from Cosy Garden Rooms, and measures 3.5m x 2.1m. As you can see, inside there is plenty of space for a desk, easel, comfortable chair, an storage for artist supplies. A roof lantern gives the room loads of natural light, and outside a green roof offers an eco-friendly feature.

The exterior has a two-tone colour scheme, Monetary Taupe to the front and left, Anthracite on the back, right, and footer. There's also a 300mm overhang. Inside, there are white grooved walls, and light grey laminate flooring plus a discreet wall-mounted infrared heater.

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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master, bespoke garden rooms and offices designed, manufactured and installed throughout the UK

Cabin Master and Arctic Cabins partner British Speedway

Nottingham-based BBQ Cabin manufacturer and installer Arctic Cabins and Cabin Master have become Premiership Partners with British Speedway for the coming season.

Arctic Cabins has a long history of involvement in speedway, from sponsorship of Youth riders through to fully-fledged Premiership stars. In 2022 they sponsored Great Britain in the FIM Speedway of Nations, before starting a full-scale partnership arrangement in the following season. That support will now extend to the British Speedway Premiership.

Managing Director Gareth Parkinson said: “We’re really excited about our new partnership with the Premiership, building on the relationship we have established with the GB Speedway Team. We know how much determination there is to see the sport move forward, and we’re looking forward to being a part of that.”

Like sister company Arctic Cabins, Cabin Master which specialises in bespoke garden offices and garden rooms, has been fully supportive of speedway at all levels over recent years.

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Wednesday posts are sponsored by Booths Garden Studios, the UK's No.1 supplier of zero maintenance and portable garden studios

 

Xavier Herbert: shedworker

Xavier Herbert was one of Australia's leading 20th century novelists, the author in 1975 of Poor Fellow My Country, weighing in at 1,463 pages, making it the longest Australian novel (and of course by default the longest Australian novel written in a shed).

He lived for much of his later life in a cottage called Redlynch in Cairns, in the back garden of which was a shed which he built himself, known as "million dollar dog house". Here is how Lynette Warwick, member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Barron River, described it in the Australian Hansard in a speech on April 30, 1996:

"Xavier Herbert built a shed in which to write, while not away at writers' camps around Kuranda. It was an unpretentious iron structure, which local residents say was made from two small sheds taken from the Kuranda railway and moved on a rail car to Redlynch. The shed was reputed to contain a tool bench, some spartan luxuries, a camp stretcher, a deck chair and a low table on which he wrote using an ancient Remmington typewriter. There is also an electrical gadget of his own invention supposed to keep him awake... Poor Fellow My Country was typewritten in the shed."

Sadly it was demolished the summer of 1995. The photo above shows Herbert in April, 1938, on the day he found out he had won the Sesqui Centenary Library Prize. It may have been taken inside the shed. 

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Monday posts are sponsored by Cosy Garden Rooms, the UK's No. 1 bespoke garden room designer and builder. 

 

Friday Finery: Shepherd's hut shop

The Homely Bee is a small home decor and gift business run by husband and wife team Tony and Sally-ann in Staffordshire. They sell online but also have a bricks and mortar shop in the shape of this lovely shepherd's hut in Eccleshall.

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

Garden office with green roof

One of the key claims about green roofs - other than their eco-credentials - is that by adding them to your garden office it then blends into the natural surroundings far better. This Workroom model from Little Garden Offices in Cornwall is additional proof of that fact.

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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master, bespoke garden rooms and offices designed, manufactured and installed throughout the UK

Return-to-office moves risk disadvantaging more than a million disabled workers, claims new study

New figures suggest that five years on from the first Covid-19 lockdown, access to remote and hybrid work has become essential to many people who are disabled or have long-term health conditions, enabling them to stay in work. 

The findings are part of a report led by researchers from Lancaster University, the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, Manchester Metropolitan University, and Universal Inclusion, and funded by the Nuffield Foundation.

One in five UK workers (6.64 million) mainly work from home, and analysis shows that nearly a fifth are disabled (1.16 million). Survey findings of more than 1,200 disabled workers with experience of remote and hybrid working reveal that working from home had a positive impact on 80% of those in fully remote roles when it came to managing their health. This proportion reduces to 38% for those who work remotely less than half of the time, suggesting that the benefits decline if people are expected to work onsite very regularly.

The study also reveals that 85% of disabled workers surveyed feel that access to remote and hybrid working is very important or essential when looking for a new job. In addition, nearly one in three disabled workers (30%) who are already working in a hybrid way want to spend more of their work time working at home.

“Remote work is not an ‘optional extra’ for many disabled workers but is vital to enabling them to get into and stay in work,” said Rebecca Florisson, Principal Analyst at the Work Foundation at Lancaster University. “A recent Government study showed that a quarter of those out of work and claiming health and disability benefits state they might be able to work if they could do so remotely. Yet recent calls by employers to return to the office overlook the critical perspectives and experiences of disabled workers who now account for almost one in four working age people in the UK.”

Despite the increase in demand from workers, the study reveals that remote and hybrid roles are difficult to come by – and arbitrary ‘return-to-office’ mandates could make things worse. Researchers examined the roles available to job seekers through the Department for Work and Pension’s Find a Job portal in one month in the UK (8 December 2024 – 7 January 2025) and found 94,827 new jobs were advertised. However, only one in 26 job adverts had the option of hybrid or remote working (3.2% of the roles were hybrid and 0.6% were fully remote).
 
“This new evidence clearly tells us that if a job isn’t advertised as hybrid or remote, the vast majority of disabled workers who require access to homeworking won’t even apply,” said Florisson. “This may be non-negotiable for them so they can better manage their health and stay in work. If employers are shortsighted and ignore the rising demand for flexibility in roles, they are missing out on a vast pool of talent that could benefit their organisations, while further distancing disabled workers from the UK labour market.”

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Wednesday posts are sponsored by Booths Garden Studios, the UK's No.1 supplier of zero maintenance and portable garden studios

KIM_oflage Studio

We've featured the wonderful Don't Move, Improve! competition run by New London Architecture several times before on Shedworking since it throws up some remarkable builds in its bid to encourage top design in everyday life in London. Now in its 12th iteration, this year's crop of entries is no exception. Pictured above is this marvellous design from Delve Architects which is a multi-use timber frame shedlike atmosphere combining a garden office with fold-down bed guest accommodation, lavatory and kitchnette in Lewisham. Glazed green tiles help the exterior to blend in really well to the back garden. Lots more photos of the interior at the Don't Move, Improve! site here.

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Monday posts are sponsored by Cosy Garden Rooms, the UK's No. 1 bespoke garden room designer and builder. 

Friday Finery: Ghorfa #13

A fine build by Moroccan artist Younes Rahmoun whose exhibition of sculptures and installations 'Younes Rahmoun: Here, Now' is currently on display at Smith College Museum of Art in Northampton, Massachusetts. The shedlike atmosphere abover is called Ghorfa #13 and is made from wood and glass (with metal hinges), coming in at 214 x 236 x 185cm.

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