Garden office that stands out from the crowd

This bespoke garden office stands out from the crowd, not only for its bold external cladding but its high levels of insulation, making it one of the best-insulated designs on the market.

The office was designed and built by Executive Garden Rooms. They design their buildings using a traditional timber framing method. The thick timbers they use allows for a lot of insulation within the framework.

Executive Garden rooms use foil-faced rigid insulation in their buildings. They incorporate 100mm in the floor, 140mm in the walls and 100mm as part of the warm roof build-up. When you consider that most garden rooms have 50mm of foil-backed insulation, you will appreciate how well insulated this office is.

In their review, towards the end of this article, Executive Garden Room's customer comments on how comfortable the room has been in the colder months. Remember, good levels of insulation are equally important in keeping the building cool in summer.

The garden office has been built in an unused corner of the garden. To maximise the space, a bespoke 4.4m x 3.75m building was designed.

Because of the positioning windows couldn't be placed on the side walls, so a Velux roof light was chosen. This is operated by remote control and features rain sensors so it will close itself, should the weather change.

The roof light has been fitted with a pleated blind which is also operated by remote control. The addition of the blind helps control both heat and light in the room.

The interior of the office has a high spec plastered and decorated finish. For this project, an acoustic plasterboard was chosen for extra soundproofing.

Executive Garden Rooms offer a well-specified electrical package. In this case, it included LED downlights, plentiful power sockets - some with USB charging points. The office has also been wired with Cat 6 cabling, for a reliable internet connection.

Externally, the office has been clad in a Burnt Red Cedral cladding. Cedral is a cement fibre board which requires little maintenance in the long term and maintains its new appearance without the need to repaint.

Executive Garden Rooms customer left this very detailed review of the build process and finish of their office:

I looked into Garden Office’s and Garden Room’s long before the current COVID19 issues made this almost mandatory for myself. I had an unused area of the garden where I wanted to put my office but as it backed onto two fences all the standard packages of other companies did not suit (no point in having windows looking at a wall or fence).

After much searching I happened on Executive Garden Rooms who would design something bespoke with my needs in mind. I was very impressed with their level of detail especially when it came to insulation values and R values of materials. On comparing their quotes to others it was VERY clear that they were streets ahead when it came to designing buildings which would stay warm in the depths of winter with little energy (this has definitely proven true over the winter period where i was very comfortable regardless of the weather outside).

The design started in earnest and after a fair few tweaks by myself such as:

A skylight for additional light with a rain sensor.
I changed the layout of the doors and windows
I added networking and usb plugs where my desk would be
I planned in air conditioning and heating
Added outside lighting and additional lights on my existing fence

What eventually came to me was a fully rendered 3d set of diagrams (and a technical set of drawings) which showed me exactly what i was ordering. This really helped me visualise the building.

The build started in earnest with the quagmire that was my garden during the storm period this year “helping” with the mud issues.

Insulation, OSB, C24 framing all went up quickly and the two chaps who were here every day worked like trojans 8am to 6 pm (when the light faded).

Executive Garden rooms arranged for a portaloo on site so there was never a reason why the chaps needed to come into the main house at all. They brought their own tea and coffee as well (we appreciated that especially due to all the mud). The build quality is excellent and I would not fault them. The skylight transforms my office and I have fitted in perfect fit blinds to the windows and doors which work really well.

The area outside has now been landscaped and is no longer a mud swamp, with a kids play area constructed.

I am very happy and it has been essential with recent world events.