Shedding the image (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Shedding the image

Susan Hogan discovers that the wooden hut at the bottom of the garden is shedding its image.

The humble shed, once reserved for the potting on of seedlings, an accumulation of toys or a retreat for a surreptitious smoke, has undergone a huge transformation in recent years to become a stylish multi-functional garden room.

Yet it is far from simply a fashionable home accessory. With space at a premium, property prices are forcing homeowners to capitalise on every square inch available and to look to efficient ways of using their existing home.

The solution for thousands has been found in the garden.

And although until recently garden room designs were dictated by chalet style buildings, today people are more intelligent about design and are demanding aesthetically pleasing as well as practical well designed modern spaces.

John Keenan of garden room specialists Shomera has risen to the challenge of meeting this demand with a range of designs that address both traditional and contemporary style requirements.

"Many of our clients are considering the garden room as the ideal alternative to the disruption of an extension as it means they can avoid the long lead-in times from builders and planning difficulties.

"Our biggest demand is for home offices. With over two million people in the UK choosing to work full-time from home, a high priority for many of those seeking to create the perfect 'work-life' balance is creating clearly defined boundaries between domestic duties and work demands.

"It is important that offices created in the garden reach the same specification as a traditional bricks and mortar office. Our clients require privacy, security and a high standard of service connections as well as good looks and build quality. The benefit of creating an office in this way is that it is installed with all of that 'ready to go'. A business can be up and running in a matter of a few weeks."

Cirencester business woman Shelagh Goldie has been operating her successful dispute resolution consultancy Concord from a Shomera custom-built timber framed office in Cirencester since last year.

"Having the office away from the house has made a huge difference in helping me really focus and grow the business," said Shelagh. "I can now receive clients here and being situated in the garden surrounded by plants and flowers is actually beneficial to creating the environment for resolving dispute and conflict. I also feel that I have my house back as a real home."

And while Shelagh's business is a fairly traditional use of the garden room, John Keenan's clients are not always so conservative.

"We have been amazed and delighted by the variety of uses that people have found for our products. We have a lady who is enjoying the privacy in the garden room to practice her belly dancing while another customer commissioned us to create a potter's studio.

"We also create garden apartments which are increasingly popular for families with elderly relatives or as dens or chill-out spaces for older children."

It is all a far cry from the damp and fusty garden shed!

John Keenan Shomera 0208 3323022 www.shomera.co.uk If you would like to view the Cirencester garden office please contact Shelagh Goldie at Concord 01285 643287.