Mark Oliver's World

Posted: 05/05/2021

Installing a Garden Office - Part 2

See the full series of posts, to find out how we got here.

I have been clearing the area of debris and plants using my new favourite digging tool. It's called a Mattock and it breaks through roots, and hard soil and plants with ease. Basically an axe for the ground. Get one if you are doing any significant digging!

Once the space was cleared, I had the chance to Mock up the space. This meant putting up fake walls and assessing heights.
For walls I used an old window and pallet I had lying round.
These helped me imagine the space and see the sizes I had to work with.
Mocked up office area

This allowed me to site the desk, and therefore design the window positions I want too.

Other things I realised when the mockup was in place:

  • Impact on the surrounding trees with the height
  • How much (or not) the neighbours would be able to see into the office, and see the office its self.
  • How sloped the ground was.

Resolving the ground slope

The ground slope (about 15cm difference front to back) is a major issue when erecting a building. It's an office, so it needs a stable floor. That means it also needs to be Flat.

I believe I have 2 options here:

  1. Add something at the front to bring it to the level of the back
  2. Reduce the ground at the back to level it with the front.

I am building this office under permitted development here in the UK. Which means I am restricted on how tall the building can be and how close to the boundary it is too. There are lots of rules, so check you are meeting them before deciding on your own.

The biggest restriction I have is the 2.5m height restriction. Its 2.5m measured from the "adjacent ground" to the tallest part of the building.
So for a sloped site, this is advantageous if you dig the building into the ground, to level it to the lowest slope.

Therefore I have decided to dig a great big hole. Essentially burying the back of the office into the ground. This means the floor of the office will be level at the lowest part of the slope. Handily this gives me about another 15cm to play with in height of the building under the permitted development, but most importantly of all, reduces the impact on the tree canopy.

What is next?

Next is to level the ground of the site to cope with height and make the slope less.

Also I need to do a lot of Research on building foundations for this building.

Useful links on permitted development restrictions:


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