Choosing to design and build your dream garden studio couldn’t be easier with Qube Buildings. We value our customers and want you to be clearly informed when it comes to Garden Buildings Planning and Building Regulations. We seek to inform you of the relevant rules and regulations you’ll want to know about for your chosen build, as It is your responsibility as the dwellinghouse owner to check if you need to apply for Planning Permission to build a garden office before you start work.

Do I need to apply for Planning Permission…? 

Often, a garden studio can be built without the need to apply for Planning Permission. As long as the building complies with the height and positioning rules laid out by Permitted Development.

If you want to put up small detached buildings such as a garden shed or summerhouse in your garden, building regulations will not normally apply if the floor area of the building is less than 15 square meters and contains NO sleeping accommodation.

If the floor area of the building is between 15 square meters and 30 square meters, 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 meter from any boundary or it is constructed substantially of non-combustible materials.

Garden Buildings Planning what information do it need?

The Government’s Planning Portal sets out the planning guidance for outbuildings, which applies to sheds, playhouses, greenhouses and garages as well as other ancillary garden buildings such as swimming pools, ponds, sauna cabins, kennels, enclosures (including tennis courts) and many other kinds of structure for a purpose incidental to the enjoyment of the dwellinghouse.

According to www.planningportal.co.uk Outbuildings and garden buildings 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 meters and maximum overall height of four meters with a dual pitched roof or three meters for any other roof.
• Maximum height of 2.5 meters in the case of a building, enclosure or container within two meters of a boundary of the curtilage of the dwellinghouse.
• No verandas, balconies or raised platforms (a platform must not exceed 0.3 meters in height)
• 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 meters from the house to be limited to 10 square meters.
• 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: The permitted development allowances described here apply to houses and not to:

• Flats and maisonettes
• Converted houses or houses created through the ‘permitted development’ rights
• Other buildings
• Areas where there may be a planning condition, Article 4 Direction or other restriction that limits permitted development rights.

For more information on Garden Buildings Planning or details around Planning permission please go to:

Planning Portal or contact us for free advice.