Swift Garden Rooms were approached by Monique and Dan to create a home in their garden for Monique’s father. Monique’s father has a few mobility problems but still wants to live independently. It was decided that creating a home in the garden was the perfect solution, allowing dad to live independently still, but near his family, if he needed help or company.
As bespoke garden room designers, the Swift team are au fait at working with customers who are looking to create a garden home. They work closely with their clients to identify their needs and to produce a design that meets their brief. Not that this was a straightforward project!
Gaining Planning Permission was tricky
A self-contained garden home like this needs planning permission to be built. The process of obtaining permission for this project was not straightforward. Swift’s customers live in a Conservation Area, and so an empathetic design was needed to meet the Planners strict criteria.
The process started with a Pre-Planning Application which did take longer than it normally would. This process allows you to discuss your ideas with the Planners before making a formal application. While it adds to the overall length of the planning process, this pre-application process can be invaluable on a complex project. During the process, you get to have detailed discussions about what you are trying to achieve and can identify what the Planners are looking for in a new building. Your designs can then be tailored to their requirements, and the likelihood of a successful application increased.
This might all sound a lot of work and stressful, it needn’t be, for you, anyway. Swift Garden Rooms have an experienced Planning Consultancy as part of their team, and they will handle any planning application on your behalf, as part of the overall project.
Planning permission was successfully granted, for an 8.15m x 5m one bedroom home in the garden.
A tailor-made layout
Monique’s father had specific ideas for his new home. He is a keen cook so wanted a good sized kitchen area. He also enjoys watching TV, so a spacious sitting room was on the list. The gentleman wanted a separate double bedroom rather than one open plan living space and a wet room to enable easy bathing. Due to his mobility issues it the annexe needed to be easy to manoeuvre around. Also, a connection with the beautiful garden was important too.
The Swift designers divided the 8.15m x 5m building into three rooms. A large main room houses a custom built kitchen along the rear wall, so Monique’s father can maintain his love of cooking. The positioning of the kitchen leaves plenty of space in the living room for sofas and chairs so that the TV and views of the garden can be enjoyed in comfort.
A double bedroom with long window overlooking the garden, leads off this main room. Pocket doors have been used between the living room and bedroom and bedroom and wet room. These doors are a very clever use of space as, as they are opened they slide into the wall. This means you don’t have a door swing area obstructing the positioning of furniture, or in this case, obstructing the passage of travel around the annexe.
A modern wet room leads off the bedroom, as with the other rooms in the annexe there is plenty of space to move around. Swift Garden Rooms handle the fit-out of the wet room and the connection to the mains supplies as part of their overall project. We mention this because not all companies who offer shower rooms will handle the connection to the mains, leaving you with a significant extra cost.
Substantial groundworks had to be undertaken on this project to overcome the sloping site and nearby trees. The Swift team have cleverly created level access to the annexe for Monique’s father by creating a large terrace that wraps around the building. While creating easy access, they have also created a wonderful outside living area for him to enjoy the garden.
A small outside storage shed has been discreetly incorporated into the building just outside the bedroom. The door of the store has been matched in with the cladding so from a distance it looks like a wall buttress. Clever!.
A three-week build
The annexe was fully completed in just three weeks on-site. The programme of work included the extensive groundworks, the build, the interior fit-out including the custom kitchen and the wet room and the connection to the mains services. All work complies with current Building Regulations.
How much would a one bedroom garden annexe like this cost?
This 8.15m x 5m one bedroom annexe with wet room and fitted kitchen cost £76,200 including VAT. This price does not include the costs involved in obtaining the planning consent or the large balcony area that wraps around the exterior of the building.
Customer testimonial
We can’t stress enough just how happy we are with not just the finished annex (which is even better than we imagined) but the level of care and attention that you, Martin and your team showed throughout the project.
The level of sensitivity, consideration and intelligence you yourself have guided us with has been so very reassuring and greatly appreciated.
Sue’s reliability, efficiency and warmth along with her “nothing is too much trouble” attitude, only added to the smoothness of the operation.
Lastly, the builders were so meticulous, hard-working, polite and reliable. Their attention to detail was fantastic and has been noticed by everyone who has seen the annex. The passion they showed for the finished product was apparent on a daily basis.
Overall, we can’t recommend Swift highly enough.
To learn more about this self-contained home in the garden talk to the Swift team on 01625 875 588 or email them: support@swiftorg.co.uk Take a look at their extensive website to learn more about their work.
