Garage garden office

Here's a workshop, garden office, and garage at a home in Cambridge designed by Ashworth Parkes. It also works as spare accommodation for visitors. Interestingly, it was a self-build put together by the client (an engineering consultant) with help from friends and family. Here's what the architects say about it:

The building is clad in a series of regular vertical oak portal frames that run continuously from one side to the other. They sit above the waterproofing and are supported only on the wall elements so that no penetrations through the roof are needed. The continuous cladding shrouds the gutter and gives the building a homogenous quality that gives no hint of the varied activities taking place within.  

The building also features an exposed steel frame and an exterior SIPs structure, oak sliding doors, concertina staircase, and mezzanine level for sleeping.

Photos: Michele Rossi

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Great Little Tin Sheds of Wales/Haearn

"A new joint exhibition that uniquely combines Pete Davis’ classic black and white prints from his early 1980‘s series ‘Great Little Tin Sheds of Wales’ with Antonia Dewhurst’s ‘Haearn’, a modern day colour study of the corrugated iron woven through the fabric of the rural Welsh landscape."

Runs March 12 - April 30 at Oriel Colwyn, Upstairs at Theatr Colwyn, Abergele Road, Colwyn Bay, North Wales.
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The Pottering Shed

The Pottering Shed is a split-level artist's studio on a private beach in Poole from architecture, art and design studio MUTT. Here's what they say about it:

The black-tar clad form consists of an in-situ concrete base and a cantilevered engineered timber top. Large projecting windows provide views out across Poole Harbour, while a small log burner provides a hearth and a place for guests to congregate.

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Livinbeachhuts (The Liv-In Beach Hut)

Beach huts continue their renaissance with this design from Norwich-based Hudson Architects who will be showing it off at the Ideal Home Show later this month at London's Olympia. Sponsored by Nationwide, the design is called Livinbeachhuts - a collaboration with MFA Property - and is aimed at councils who want to make the most of their beachside property income possibilities which would also be of interest to shedworkers.

These would be 'sleep-over' huts offering accommodation throughout the year (pictured above) for up to four people (six with a pull-down spfa), fully fitted bathroom, open plan kitchen, sitting room with wood burner, private decking and barbecue area. The bedroom would be in the mezzanine with double height windows. Naturally they would be fully insulated and heated. Here's what the architects say about it:

Styling has a strong Scandi feel which compliments the overall design of the huts. In addition, the multi-level units offer their design to be adapted to suit specific site conditions by adopting materials which are better able to overcome local conditions such as those areas within a flood risk zone.  

Though designed as a coastal beach hut, they are also working on a design more suited to inland locations. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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The Artist Bothy

The Artist Bothy comes from the fine folk behind the excellent Bothy Project (a network of off-grid residencies) who describe it as a "high spec prefabricated multipurpose space... a pioneering piece of low-impact architecture designed to enhance the experience of spending time in nature all year round" so ideal for use as a garden office and available from later this month. Based on the popular Inshriach Bothy in Cairngorms National Park (pictured above), it's been designed by the project’s founders, artist Bobby Niven and architect Iain MacLeod, to fit into rural settings and measures 5.5m x 3.85m x 8.5m.

Sustainability is at the heart of the build including untreated Scottish larch gable cladding, corrugated Corten still external wall/roof cladding, and inside whitewashed cross-laminated timber. Insulation is 100mm wood fibre.

There will be provision for water and power supply and it will come fully wired with lighting and socket points, plus a chimney for those wanting a wood-burning stove. It comes fully prefabricated and is craned into position. Options include furniture made by Scottish furniture maker Colin Parker including kitchenette, benchbed, and wood burning stove.

Profits from sales of the Artist Bothy will be reinvested in the Bothy Project charity to create more residency opportunities for artists.
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Can I claim tax relief on my garden office?

It's a perennial question so no apologies for coming back to it. As always there are various viewpoints, but there is a useful piece of crowdsourced advice at Taxation.co.uk, part of the LexisNexis setup. Here's the query:

My client is a self-employed carpenter. As well as carrying out work in the homes and premises of clients he has to do much preparation at home. Because his business has expanded, he has recently demolished his garden shed and replaced it with a more substantial workshop. He seems to expect that the full cost of about £15,000 can be included as a deduction in his accounts.

Here's part of 'Bramble's' answer:

The workshop itself (in other words, the base, floor, walls and roof) forms the setting in which the carpenter carries on part of his trade. The expenditure on its construction does not qualify for plant and machinery allowances (PMAs) because it is not within CAA 2001, s 21 and s 22 and as confirmed in Yarmouth v France [1887] 19 QBD 647. An appropriate proportion of the net demolition costs of the garden shed should qualify for PMAs by adding it to the cost of the new replacement plant in the workshop (see HMRC’s Capital Allowances Manual at CA22210).

Here's a snippet from 'Milburn Moneybags':

The expenditure on the workshop is capital in nature, with relief being available only by way of plant and machinery capital allowances in relation to that part of the expenditure that has been incurred on integral features, fixtures and other fittings and plant and machinery. Other than these, capital allowances are generally denied in relation to buildings and structures.

You can read the whole thing at Taxation.co.uk here. As always, we would strongly recommend you talk to your financial adviser before claiming anything.

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What to wear in your garden office: Banyan

In this wintry weather, the topic of how to keep warm in your garden office is especially important. As regular readers will know, the Shedworking staff likes nothing better than putting on its smoking jacket to keep the chills away. Recently we have been chatting with writer and shedworker Alex Beecroft who has decided to keep the cold away by making her own banyan (pictured above), an 18th century gentleman’s house coat.

Alex has written up how she did it in three parts - the first is here, the second is here, and the third is here. Although there are some tricky elements - sewing silk is obviously a bit awkward - we think she's done a tremendous job. She is now considering make a hat to go with it.

Below is where Alex writes.

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