When building a large garden office you need to remember that Building Regulations will come into play. If you are building a garden office over 15 square meters and siting it within 1 meter of the boundary then it will need to be fully Building Control compliant.
This was the case for this recent build by Executive Garden Rooms who were commissioned to build a 6.4m x 5.5m garden office. This created an office with a footprint of 35.3 square meters.
Executive Garden Rooms are very au fait with designing their buildings to Building Regulation standards and have built up a specification that complies with the relevant codes.
Whilst the foundations, insulation and electrics will all need to comply with Building Control. One of the key elements that must comply and will effect the appearance of the garden office is the external cladding. To meet current Building Regulations the external cladding of a garden office sited within 1 meter of the boundaries of your garden must be fire retardant.
Executive Garden Rooms have chosen to offer Cedral weatherboard as their solution to this problem. This is a cement based board that has a grain pattern like wood and comes in a wide range of colours. The final appearance of the building is as if it is painted timber cladding. In reality no painting is involved as the boards are pre-coloured. Cedral is a Building Regulation approved product. A bonus of using a cladding like Cedral is that it needs little or no on-going maintenance compared with timber cladding.
The Planning Portal clearly states that a garden office bigger than 15 square meters that is sited within 1 meter of the boundary needs to be Building regulation compliant. Failure to comply with this ruling could cause you problems when you come to sell your house, as it will come up in the conveyancing process. So, comply today to save yourself hassle in the future!
Your garden office supplier will advise you if your building will need to comply with Building Regulations, but its a good idea to bring it up during your site visit, as at the end of the day its your responsibility to ensure you are compliant. Most garden office suppliers will be able to adjust their specification to ensure their designs will comply with all the relevant codes.
To learn more about how Executive Garden Rooms approach Building Control compliance give them a call on 01202 874 766 or visit their website for more information about their work.