Compact garden gym
A 3m × 2.5m Garden Spaces gym set in the corner of a small garden, with a glazed front, a 1m × 1m skylight and cedar on the walls that can be seen from the house.
Creating a home gym equipped with your favourite equipment is a popular use for a garden room building. If you explore the archive of garden gym projects we have featured, you’ll notice that many are large buildings in spacious gardens. However, they don’t have to be. This recent project by Garden Spaces demonstrates that a small garden room can serve as a functional gym without dominating the garden space.
Sitting on a modest footprint of 3m wide by 2.5m deep, with a roof canopy and decked step area extending the depth to 2.95m, the configuration of glazing, combined with the high-spec plastered and decorated interior, gives the room a spacious feel. It’s designed to feel larger than it is, thanks to the floor-to-ceiling glazing overlooking the garden.
As the images show, the owner has positioned their Peloton bike to face the garden, leaving plenty of space to roll out a gym mat for various types of exercise.
At a glance
- Size: 3m × 2.5m, 2.95m deep with the canopy and decked step.
- Built for: A home gym, with a Peloton bike facing the garden and room to roll out a mat.
- Glazing: Aluminium French doors beside a full-height fixed window, a high top-hung vent window and a roof skylight.
- Finishes: Western Red Cedar on the visible walls and Jet Black cement particle board on the two boundary walls.
- Company: Garden Spaces, who build in SIPs and design the foundation around the gym equipment.
Tailor-made gym buildings by Garden Spaces
While many garden room companies claim their buildings can be used as gyms, Garden Spaces has made fitness rooms one of their specialities. Recognising that every customer’s exercise routine is unique, they offer a wide range of options to personalise their garden fitness studios.
Gym equipment can be heavy, and when you factor in the impact of its use, special consideration is required during the design phase for the floor and foundation of a gym room. Unfortunately, not all garden room companies account for this, often taking a one-size-fits-all approach regardless of the intended use. Garden Spaces, however, takes the time to understand how you will use your home exercise room and designs the foundation accordingly. For example, we recently featured a project where they combined a ground screw foundation with a concrete pad to support weight-lifting equipment.
Garden Spaces can also reinforce walls and ceilings to support wall or ceiling-mounted equipment. They work closely with you to create a glazing configuration that balances your view preferences during workouts, maintains privacy, and includes opening windows for ventilation.
Garden Spaces offers a range of interior options to personalise your home gym, from specialised rubber flooring to air conditioning, data cabling, and audio-visual fittings, enabling you to play music, watch TV, or join a class.
Gym building for a small garden
As these photos show, Garden Spaces’ client has a small garden. To avoid dominating the space, the gym building has been positioned in a corner, framed by two boundary walls and an established tree. By leaving the existing planting undisturbed, the building blends seamlessly into its surroundings.
Garden Spaces doesn’t offer a fixed range of garden room sizes, allowing them to design a building that perfectly suits the available space. Their garden rooms are typically 2.5m high, providing maximum flexibility while adhering to Permitted Development rules.
Garden Spaces constructs its garden rooms using Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs), creating a highly insulated structure. When combined with quality double-glazed doors and windows, this results in a building that is comfortable for year-round use.
Wonderfully light home gym
As the photos depict, Garden Spaces has crafted a beautifully light exercise room for their clients, creating a strong connection to the surrounding garden. The glazing configuration plays a key role in achieving this.
High-spec aluminium French doors, paired with a full-height fixed window, form a glazed wall on the front elevation. This design blurs the boundary between indoor and outdoor spaces, making this compact garden gym feel significantly more spacious than its actual size.
An 800mm x 400mm top-hung window has been positioned high on the right-hand wall, which can be easily opened to ventilate the room. The doors and windows are finished in Jet Black (RAL9005) and fitted with black handles for a streamlined appearance.
An impressive feature of this small gym is the 1m x 1m roof skylight. Introducing top light is a clever way to ensure natural light, regardless of the weather.
Low-maintenance exterior finishes
Garden Spaces offers a wide range of exterior finishes, allowing you to choose combinations that suit your aesthetic preferences. For this project, the clients selected Western Red Cedar for the visible elevations. The cedar has been treated with Liberon Superior Danish Oil, which slows the natural weathering process that causes the colour to fade to a silvery grey. While this colour change doesn’t affect the durability of the boards, it does alter their appearance. Applying a UV protection oil during installation, along with periodic top-ups, can preserve the wood’s natural colour, while also providing a gentle sheen and moisture resistance.
On the two boundary-facing walls, the owners opted for cement particle boards, which are dimensionally stable and resistant to rot and fungal attacks-ideal for hard-to-reach areas. The boards have been finished with Resifine in RAL9005 to match the aluminium door and window frames, as well as the roof trims.
Charcoal black composite decking has been used on the veranda along the front elevation. This low-maintenance option helps prevent the slipperiness commonly associated with timber decking, making it an ideal choice in front of the doors.
Learn more about Garden Spaces
Visit the gym section on the Garden Spaces website to explore the options available for personalising your garden fitness room. Chat with the knowledgeable Garden Spaces team at 0845 387 9 387 or send them an email: info@gardenspaces.co.uk.
To learn more, explore our archive of articles featuring Garden Spaces projects.
