Buying Guides · 6 min read
Garden Office: Size, Power and Planning
What size shed suits a garden office for one or two desks, how the real headroom affects the layout, getting power in safely, and the planning basics.
Garden office
A desk at the bottom of the garden.
Three things to settle before you order: the size, how you'll get power to it, and whether the rules allow it.
For one person, an 8 × 8ft Apex Shed takes a desk under the side windows and a chair. An 8 × 10ft adds a storage wall or a reading chair. For two desks side by side, a 14 × 8ft Pent Shed has windows along its 14ft front.
Office sizes and headroom
Heights are internal, from each building's specification. Floor area is the nominal footprint.
| Building | Lowest inside | Highest inside | Floor area |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 × 8 Apex | 1,757mm (eaves (sides)) | 2,285mm (ridge (middle)) | 64 sq ft (5.9 m²) |
| 8 × 10 Apex | 1,757mm (eaves (sides)) | 2,285mm (ridge (middle)) | 80 sq ft (7.4 m²) |
| 14 × 8 Pent | 1,757mm (rear (low side)) | 1,887mm (front (tall side)) | 112 sq ft (10.4 m²) |
Desk and chair space
Put the desk where the ceiling is lowest and keep the tallest part of the room for standing and walking. In an apex, that means the desk against a side wall, under the windows, where you're seated, with the 2,285mm middle clear. In a pent, face the desk to the taller 1,887mm front with its windows, and use the 1,757mm back wall for low storage.
Allow room behind the desk to push your chair back and stand up, and keep the doors clear so they open fully. Mark the desk and chair out on the floor at home with tape before you choose a size. If you're tall, check the heights above against your own before ordering.
Power and lighting
Our buildings come without wiring, heating or insulation. If you want sockets, lights or a heater, speak to a registered electrician: power to a garden building is a new circuit, and it needs fitting and certifying properly. Tell them what you'll run, from a laptop to a heater, so the circuit suits it. If you'll work out there in winter, think about lining and insulating the walls, and ask your electrician about safe heating.
Planning permission
Usually not needed. In England, a garden building is normally permitted development if it's single storey, behind the front of the house, has eaves no higher than 2.5m, and is no more than 2.5m high overall if it's within 2m of a boundary. Together with extensions and other outbuildings, it can't cover more than half the land around the house.
Working from it yourself is fine; sleeping in it, or clients and staff visiting, may need permission. Listed homes, conservation areas and National Parks have tighter rules, and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own. If in doubt, ask your council. Our planning permission guide has the details.
Building regulations
Not normally. In England and Wales a detached garden building with under 15m² of floor area and nowhere to sleep doesn't need building regulations approval. All three sizes above are under that. Any electrical work does still have to meet the regulations.
Garden office questions
Apex or pent for an office?
An apex gives the most height in the middle (2,285mm on an 8ft-wide building). A pent is 1,887mm at the front and 1,757mm at the back, lower overall, which helps near a boundary.
Who builds it?
You do: it's designed for DIY assembly, with numbered panels, every fixing and a step-by-step guide. Most sizes take two people half a day to a day. We don't offer installation.
When will it arrive?
Order by 2pm on a working day and it's normally delivered free the next working day to the UK mainland, to the kerbside.
Plan your office in 3D
See the real building with the roof off and try desk layouts before you buy.
Open the 3D office builderReady to put it into practice? Every building is in stock, flat-packed and delivered free to the UK mainland the next working day.
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