From steel box to
your favourite room.

For a day-use garden building, such as a gym, office, room, bar or studio, you usually fall under permitted development and need no application, provided it sits behind the house, is single storey, is kept low within 2m of a boundary (max 2.5m high there), covers no more than half your garden and has no veranda or raised platform. Conservation areas, AONBs and listed properties have tighter rules. Anything used for sleeping or letting always needs full planning permission. Always verify with your local planning authority. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland differ from this England guidance, and a Lawful Development Certificate is worth considering for peace of mind.

Any space used for sleeping or letting, such as a guest annexe, a holiday let or an Airbnb, always needs full planning permission and must meet Building Regulations, without exception. That covers insulation, ventilation, fire safety and how services are installed. We build glamping and holiday-let units to that sleeping specification from the start and will guide you through the planning route, but the permission itself is granted by your local authority.

For a detached garden building under 15m² of internal floor area with no sleeping use, Building Regulations generally do not apply. Between 15m² and 30m² there are conditions, mainly around proximity to boundaries and fire. Any sleeping accommodation brings full Building Regs into play. One thing always applies regardless of size: Part P, covering electrical work, and we wire every build to it. Always confirm your specific case with your local authority building control.

For most gardens, none in the traditional sense. A container is structural in its own right, so we typically site it on levelled concrete pad stones or a simple prepared base, with no digging foundations and no waiting for concrete to cure. On softer or sloping ground we will advise on the right base. The unit is craned into final position, levelled and left ready.

The finished unit is delivered on a HIAB lorry, a lorry with a crane that lifts the container over fences, walls and hedges into position, so the lorry itself does not need to reach the exact spot. We do need clear access for the lorry to get close enough and overhead room for the crane. Tight or unusual access is usually workable, but we assess it with you before delivery day so there are no surprises. We deliver nationwide from our Radcliffe base.