Modern Garden Offices do not typically need a planning application as they fall within the permitted development rules under class E. This provides pre-approved planning permission for garden offices that are built subject to several limits and conditions, including:
1) That the garden office is no higher than 2.5m from the bottom of the building to the top of the roof (if within 2m of boundary)
2) That this or any other building takes up 50% or less of your total garden area
3) That your garden office is not to be used for living or sleeping accommodation
NOTE: All our garden offices are manufactured to meet the 2.5m height Planning restriction.
Outbuildings are considered to be permitted development, not needing planning permission, subject to the following limits and conditions:
- No outbuilding on land forward of a wall forming the principal elevation.
- Outbuildings and garages to be single storey with maximum eaves height of 2.5 metres and maximum overall height of four metres with a dual pitched roof or three metres for any other roof.
- Maximum height of 2.5 metres in the case of a building, enclosure or container within two metres of a boundary of the curtilage of the dwellinghouse.
- No verandas, balconies or raised platforms.
- No more than half the area of land around the “original house”* would be covered by additions or other buildings.
- In National Parks, the Broads, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and World Heritage Sites the maximum area to be covered by buildings, enclosures, containers and pools more than 20 metres from house to be limited to 10 square metres.
- On designated land* buildings, enclosures, containers and pools at the side of properties will require planning permission.
- Within the curtilage of listed buildings any outbuilding will require planning permission.
*The term “original house” means the house as it was first built or as it stood on 1 July 1948 (if it was built before that date). Although you may not have built an extension to the house, a previous owner may have done so.
*Designated land includes national parks and the Broads, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, conservation areas and World Heritage Sites.
Please note that the permitted development allowances described here apply to houses and not to:
We recommend you read the ‘Permitted development for householders – Technical guidance’ published on Gov.uk. This will help understand how to apply the permitted development rules to your individual circumstances.
The most important factors are:
1) Building Regulations do not usually apply unless you want to sleep in it
2) Under 15m2 internal floor area can be installed close to any rear boundary
3) Over 15m2 and up to 30m2 needs to be a minimum 1m from any boundary*
If you want to erect a small detached buildings such as a garden shed, garden room or summerhouse in your garden, Building Regulations (except Part P for Electrical works) will not normally apply if the floor area of the building is less than 15 square metres INTERNAL and contains NO sleeping accommodation.
If the INTERNAL floor area of the building is between 15 square metres and 30 square metres, you will not normally be required to apply for building regulations approval, providing that the building contains NO sleeping accommodation, and is either at least one metre from any boundary, or it is constructed substantially of non-combustible materials. (*As a solution to this it is possible to coat the cedar cladding of your garden room with a non-combustible Intumescent paint for timber and wood, derivatives are available in Water and Solvent based forms with fire ratings of 30, 60 minutes.)
In many cases, these structures will be exempt from requiring approval under the Building Regulations if they meet certain exemption criteria.
View ‘Is building regulations approval needed for an outbuilding?’ on Gov.uk
Part A of the Regulations for structural integrity is fully complied with, ensuring that the building is constructed so that combined dead loads (weight of structural elements), imposed loads (snow, maintenance activities, etc) and wind loads are accounted for. Issues addressed cover elements such as the size and bearing of roof timbers relative to the unsupported roof span per guidance issued by NHBC and TRADA.
Part L (does not apply to buildings under 50m2 internal floor area per Regulation 21) takes account of the insulation qualities of walls, roof, floor, doors and windows, and new Building Regulations introduced in April 2014 impose stricter fabric U-Values for England and Wales of:
Part P In the case of Garden Buildings Part P applies and any work is notifiable to the Local Authority. Work can be self-certified by an Electrical Installer who is registered as a competent person using a BS7671 electrical installation certificate for every job they undertake, with a copy given to the householder. This is supplied by Modern Garden Rooms where we are contracted to do this work.
Please note:
Our standard garden offices are electrically 1st and 2nd fixed internally only. Armoured cable running from your house to your garden office is not included in our standard price package due to a number of on-site variables. These include the distance between your property and the garden office, as well as obstacles that are present in that space, including paths, patios, driveways. We are happy to quote for this to be armoured cable to be provided as an optional extra, however it is typically more cost-effective for you to source a local electrical contractor to carry out this installation.
Please be aware that the content on this page is no way binding and all planning permission decisions are dependent on local authorities. You should contact your local council for further information.
