Do you need planning permission for your garden room?

Outbuildings are considered to be permitted development, not requiring an application for planning permission, provided all the conditions are met. For further building advice see links at the bottom of the page.

Keep to the rules for permitted development rights

Outbuildings and other additions must not exceed 50% of the total area of land around the original house. Sheds and all other outbuildings and extensions to the original house must be included when calculating this 50% limit.
To be permitted development, any new building must not itself be separate, self contained, living accommodation and must not have a microwave antenna.
Outbuildings must be single storey with a maximum eaves height of 2.5 metres and maximum overall height of 4 metres with a dual pitched roof, or 3 metres in any other case.
If the outbuilding is within 2 metres of the property boundary the whole building should not exceed 2.5 metres in height.
Balconies and verandas are not permitted development. Raised platforms such as decking are permitted development provided they are no higher than 300mm.
Outbuildings are not permitted development within the grounds of a listed building.

Building Regulations Building regulations will not normally apply if the floor area of the building is less than 15m2. If it is between 15m2 and 30m2, you will not normally be required to apply for Building Regulations approval providing that the building is either at least 1m from any boundary or it is constructed of substantially non-combustible materials. In both cases, Building Regulations do not apply ONLY if the building does not contain any sleeping accommodation.

Nordic Rooms

All the Nordic Rooms comply with Building Regulations in terms of insulation values and quality of windows and doors. We use only structural timber for our frames marked with C24 and we mix Celotex and Rockwool as insulation to achieve the regulation’s levels. Our windows and doors are made with toughened glass with a kite mark in the glass. They are also equipped with 6 lever safety locks, EU certified and internal safety hinges.

Each project unique

Nordic Room will work closely with each customer to make sure that they comply with all the elements that might apply to their specific project. For example a Granny Annex will have totally different requirements to achieve then a leisure room or Nordic Room.

For more information please visit

This is a short mini guide from the Planning Portal that explains the rules in short.

Planning Portal: http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/commonprojects/outbuildings

A more in-depth Technical Guidance on Permitted Development Rights:
www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/100806_PDforhouseholders_TechnicalGuidance.pdf

Do I Need Planning Permission:
http://www.doineedplanningpermission.co.uk/improve/outbuilding.aspx

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We love our Nordic room – it’s super to have somewhere safe, beautiful and cosy for our young teens to hang out with their friends, which is exactly what we wanted it for. Having an awkwardly shaped garden meant that a standard garden room just wouldn’t work for us. We chose Nordic Room after seeing a neighbour’s garden room and being impressed with its high quality. We couldn’t have chosen better! This room is built to last, and will be used very happily all year round, year after year.

Jane - West Byfleet

Our Nordic Room has been an incredible addition to our property and has immediately added value to our lives. From initial consultation and throughout the build, the team displayed the utmost professionalism, courtesy and respect, delivering a high-quality product within the quoted time and cost. I couldn’t recommend the team higher.

Alex - East Molesey,

The end to end process Nordic offer is very professional; being a family run business they take their customers very seriously and we were very satisfied with the result. Thanks Olaf and the team!

Mr&Mrs Kelly Twickenham

Everyone I have been in contact with at Nordic Wood was a real pleasure to deal with. Tess and Olaf were patient in answering my many questions and the carpenters were all extremely polite, cheerful and professional.

Dara, London

From the first phone call to discuss our requirements, through several site visits to assess if our plans were viable, and on to construction and finishing I have nothing but praise for the company and those involved in it.

Mike, Surrey

“Both me and my wife really appreciated your professionalism and very kind approach to the work. I’m attaching few pictures of the annex, it is lovely and all our friends are asking about the company who did such an amazing work in just 4 weeks”

Luciano, Surrey