Garden office, kitchen and utility room by Garden Spaces
A 3.585m × 1.9m garden building holding an office, kitchen and utility room, built on jack pads over a shared drain with a flush access hatch set into the floor.
This compact garden room by Garden Spaces is a great example of how one well-considered building can serve multiple, varied uses under the same roof – and how an experienced team can work around what, on paper, looks like a very difficult site.
At 3.585m x 1.9m, the building makes the most of a small garden footprint. Those dimensions are not a standard product from most garden room companies, but Garden Spaces can design custom-sized buildings to the millimetre, which was exactly what this project required. The brief asked for a garden office, kitchen area, and utility room to be contained within a compact footprint, each function accommodated without compromise.
At a glance
- Size: 3.585m × 1.9m, 6.8sqm.
- Layout: Cabinetry planned around a sink, utility appliances and a desk.
- The site: Boundaries on two sides and a waste access point serving several properties.
- Construction: Jack pad foundations, with a floor hatch in place of a build-over agreement.
- Company: Garden Spaces, including the mains electricity and plumbing connections.
A client-specified roofline
The roofline is noticeably steeper than is typical in garden room design, sloping from front to back with guttering dealing with rainwater runoff along the rear elevation. This was the client’s choice rather than a standard design decision, and it is one of the clearer examples in this project of how Garden Spaces tailor each building around what the owner actually wants rather than what a standard configuration offers.
Exterior finishes and detailing
Black finishes have been used consistently across the exterior: uPVC frames and handles on the French doors, the roof kerb, and the pair of updown lights positioned either side of the entrance. On the side elevation, an opening picture window sits behind the kitchen sink, offering a view out into the courtyard – a small detail that makes a meaningful difference to how the space feels when in use.
Thermowood cladding has been fitted vertically on the visible elevations. Thermowood is a heat-treated softwood – kiln-dried at high temperatures to improve its stability, durability, and resistance to moisture – giving a natural timber appearance that weathers consistently without the ongoing maintenance demands of untreated wood. On the elevations tight to the boundary, cement particle board finished to match the exterior trims takes over. It is the practical choice in that situation: low maintenance, unaffected by the restricted access that close boundary proximity creates, and with a finish that reads as part of the same palette.
A constrained site, carefully managed
The site presented a number of challenges that required precise engineering before a single panel could be assembled. Available space was extremely limited. The building had to be constructed over an existing waste access point serving multiple properties, which meant maintaining permanent access to the drainage infrastructure below – both during construction and in perpetuity.
Garden Spaces installed jack pad foundations to allow flexibility and ensure exact positioning around the existing drainage pipework. Rather than triggering a build-over agreement, which can be a complex and uncertain process, the team incorporated a floor access hatch directly into the design. The hatch has been carefully detailed into the laminate flooring so it sits flush with the surrounding finish, retaining the appearance of a properly resolved interior rather than looking like a practical afterthought.
Boundary proximity on two sides added further constraint, requiring precise setting-out at every stage. That the finished result shows none of this complexity is a reasonable measure of how methodically it was managed.
Three functions, one compact interior
Inside, the building is finished to the high standard Garden Spaces bring to all their work: plastered and decorated walls and ceiling, laminate flooring throughout, and an electrical layout suited to the different uses the room supports.
The cabinetry has been designed around the three distinct functions. A sink and worktops serve the kitchen use; appliance units handle the utility room requirements; and a desk area, cleverly incorporated into the overall configuration, completes the office function. The result is a space that manages to feel purposeful rather than cramped – each element resolved without the compromises that a less considered approach would have produced.
Garden Spaces handled the whole project through their One Stop Shop service, which includes connections to mains electricity and plumbing, so the building at handover was ready to use rather than requiring the client to coordinate separate trades.
Learn more about Garden Spaces
Garden Spaces design and build bespoke garden rooms across England and Wales, tailoring each project around the client’s brief and tastes. To find out more or to discuss your own project, visit www.gardenspaces.co.uk, call 0845 387 9 387, or email info@gardenspaces.co.uk.
