Attaching garden office to house - Regulations

F

Franm

Registered User
Messages
74
Hi All,
I’m currently looking into purchasing one of those seemingly high quality stand alone outside/garden offices and am wondering about the possibility of attaching it to the back of our house i.e. on the gable end. The idea then would be to create a door opening from the house in to the attached office/studio unit.
I was therefore wondering if anyone knows if there are any specific building regulations that one has to adhere to if doing this. Or, am I entering a minefield re this and would I be better off leaving it separate. It’s a small floor area (single story) and is therefore exempt from requiring planning approval.

Fyi the unit I’m considering is one of those Swedish garden offices as mentioned recently in the Self Build mag. A diy assembly based on the sip system.

Looking forward to hearing any comments re this.

Regards
Fran
ps I’ve nothing to do with the supplier of these, just a potential customer.
 

Its only exempt if its:
1. attached to the dwelling, thus is an extension
2. is under 40sq m
3. is completely to the rear to the dwelling
4. is not used for any purpose except that ancillary to the dwelling ie no commercial activity.

If its detached it can only be 25sqm max, and can only act as a garage of shed
 
Thanks Sydthebeat,
I was wondering more about building (construction) regulations though rather than planning. For example is there a basic construction standard that one must adhere to. I'm dealing with a UK company and they're just telling me that I need to make sure it's in accordance with our IRL regulations.
Perhaps I need to run it by an architect or engineer.

Regards
Fran
 
No it's not a creche, (although you have me thinking now). It's main use will be as a studio for making "arty" stuff (for herself). And I was thinking that it would be very handy to get to it without going outdoors. Hence my query re can I just attach it to the back of the house and knock a door through.

Serotoninsid, the web link to what I'm considering is www.garden2office.co.uk click on the step by step option to get a good idea of the product. Although I'm looking at a different roof style.

Again, I've no idea how good or bad it is (yet). The guy i spoke to in the UK was very helpful and very prompt replying to emails.
 
The Building Regulations 1997-2007 apply. Check out http://www.environ.ie/en/DevelopmentandHousing/BuildingStandards/ for more information.
 
The description of knocking a door to the outside and fitting a unit like this one IMHO leaves a lot to be desired. How would you insulate the two together and run heat, light etc.? Your own description confirms that they are stand alone units.
 
I'm inclined to agree with you Sueellen. My other thought was to look at the possibility of constructing a short (1m) enclosed walkway between the two with doors on both sides.
I was also wondering what the official definition of an extension is? For example if the roof was attached to the main house together with a walk through 1m corridor, then could this new section be classified as an extension.
Thank you for all the comments so far.
F.
 
Can you go direct to the sweedish manufacturer?Might be more cost effective? Be interested to know what sort of money they're asking - if you get to that stage..


[broken link removed]
 
Many offices (and unfortunately schools) would have portacabins attached to existing buildings. Might be worth talking to some of the suppliers.
 
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