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Are you considering a new garden room in your back garden – many people are.

If you are in the search for a new garden room, then check out these 10 tips to plan ahead.

1. Space

This is ultimately the first thing to consider when planning/designing a garden room. There needs to be adequate space to accommodate the new room while putting surrounding buildings and structures into consideration. Although the building might fit in the desired space, it shouldn’t make the site seem too cramped.

Proper planning and design hold the key to using the space available to your advantage. One way to avoid cramping is by styling the new building to look like it is associated with the adjoining house. as long as the new build can fit into its context, you can then move to the next stage.

2. Design And Materials (Local)

While you don’t necessarily have to copy your neighbor’s design, it’s advisable to stick to a plan that the local council will approve. This might also depend on what the council prefers and building codes within the area. Sticking to locally available and recommended materials, as well as design gives you a better chance of getting the plan approved.

3. Privacy

The garden room needn’t overlook its neighbors (gardens and windows) for improved security. Most councils require neighbors to have a set minimum separation distance specifically for this purpose. Some policies dictate that the separation distance should be from 20m and 22m between properties.

You can, however, ensure optimal privacy by designing the rooms away from the neighbor, use high-level glazing or obscured windows to prevent the direct view from any direction. An excellent example of this by having bathroom windows and landing at an elevation to the neighbor’s. However, once you get over such concerns for such spaces you can buy it from £2,699.00

4. Overshadowing

Unless the new building is built to the north of an existing one, it shouldn’t block natural sunlight to either the owner or neighbor’s house. That said, the new building should be designed in a way that it doesn’t protrude farther into the neighbor’s property. This is particularly important for the original property’s main windows, sunny patio, or even garden. Overshadowing can cause a deadlock between you and the neighbor, and probably have to bring the structure down.

5. Outlook

The new garden room should not intrude or remove an existing house open outlook. Several other factors need to be considered to ensure the structure is strategically placed to ensure it doesn’t affect the original dwellings look and feel. Proper planning is, therefore required to ensure this isn’t an issue.

6. Trees

You may have to remove a tree or two to create enough space for the garden room. While this may be essential, neighbors and even councilors may be upset by this, one of the reasons you need a solid plan for the same. This is particularly important if these trees formed a part of an attractive streetscape. That said, you need a solid landscaping plan to help go around any tree-removal objections by the neighbors or councilors. A site survey might be ideal before taking on the project.

7. Ecology

An ecological survey may be necessary if there are bats in trees, reptiles, newts around ponds, and other protected species within your garden or locality.

8. Drainage

This is one of the critical things you need to think of when planning a gardenroom. Proper drainage and sewer system are some of the key factors one needs to consider during the planning phase. You also need to come up with suitable and applicable solutions for this in advance. You can either have water drained via the driveway or soakaways. For areas where public sewer is unavailable, you might have to create space for a private sewer system. Planning for a private sewer system could affect the overall plan and layout of the garden room. Such could force you to go back to the drawing board.

9. Access

You will need adequate parking and safe entrance to the site. This also includes enough space for one to turn on site. Unless you are in the most central part of the city, this is more of a requirement. You also need to factor in noise and other forms of disturbance which could annoy next door neighbors.  The noise might be from workers or vehicles trying to maneuver within site.

10. Local Politics

Local politics come into play where you need to have the garden building plan approved at the town council. Practicing good neighborliness will always pay good dividends when it comes to having your project approved. Getting your neighbors on the same page would, therefore, be recommended to help fast track the application process at the council level.

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