In London every inch of your property matters, you have to maximise the space inside your home and out. Since COVID 2020 the importance of personal outdoor space and a home workspace have become extremely important. In this Wrigley Landon Properties Spring newsletter, we look at one of the projects we have been working on this spring, a beautiful garden and home office renovation.

Our starting point was a small garden in West London 4.8 metres wide by 8 metres long. The garden had a small potting shed built in the 1980s at the end of the garden. Built from timber joists and ply, then clad in unusual concrete tiles. This potting shed had little to offer a modern garden and was rotting out at the bottom due to being directly in contact with the ground. The potting shed measured 1.6 square metres and had a door at the rear that led into the alleyway at the back of the houses. The garden fences and shed all needed to be demolished carefully and removed from site before construction could begin.

The project was started in January 2026, which was an incredibly wet period, one of the wettest on record, over 40 days consecutively. We covered the garden with a very large builder’s tarp angled to ensure runoff without pooling. This helped to protect our building materials that were weather sensitive and the WLP team, while we built the beautiful home office.

The home office was carefully designed using Rhino 3D CAD modelling to get the proportions right for the garden and to ensure the building fell outside the need for planning permission. These dimensions vary from council to council, in this area the building must be below 2.5 metres high and 5 metres from any other building.

The three key features specified for this office build were speed, cost and longevity. Firstly, the structure must be able to be built and watertight in a minimum amount of time. Secondly, the materials needed to be off the shelf, not too expensive and built to last. The design was pretty straightforward, treated timber joists made the structure of the floor, walls and roof. These were then clad in OSB 11mm on the wall to reduce thickness and weight and 18mm on the roof and floor for strength. Then all the OSB was treated with a resin and fibreglass coating to make them weatherproof.

The voids in the walls, floor and ceiling were then filled with rigid foam insulation, the first fix electrics went in and then a vapour barrier was added forming a sealed layer before the MR plasterboard. This was then plaster skimmed and had waterproof flooring set in position, leading to the second fix electrics being completed. Skirting boards were fitted and then everything was painted and finished to our signature WLP high standard.

With the home office fitted and waterproofed the next task was to build a raised paving floor for the garden. The client wanted the garden paving to feel like part of the kitchen extension. Enis Ivory 8mm thick indoor tiles were used inside the home. Therefore, we used Enis Ivory 20mm thick outdoor tiles for the garden, both from Topps Tiles. The garden already had a sloped concrete floor that drained into a central gully.

After some consultation we decided with the client to use a floating paving system with adjustable pedestal PETG stands. This was to have a level surface that was also raised up to be the same height, as the kitchen extension flooring. These stands have many advantages such as using less concrete which is better for the environment and cutting down on labour costs. We left gaps between the tiles of 4mm, which is perfect for drainage and making the paving very easy to clean. If any work is needed later like running cables or fitting pipes this can be done without having to rip up the paving.

Once the paving was in place we had a clean datum line to work from for the height of the fencing. Next, we had to build the structure for the fencing landscaping battens, these are lengths of 18mm by 40mm treated Douglas Fir that come in 3.6 metre lengths. The structure for the battens must be strong enough and with close enough verticals to fix the battens at regular intervals to stop them moving with the sun and rain. Behind the battens we fitted landscaping fabric, which is used as a weed suppressant, it’s cheap and comes in long rolls. It provides uniform black all round, so that the gaps between the battens look consistent. The spacing for the battens is 15mm at the bottom and 6mm between each of the horizontals. The gate was designed as a feature to break up the horizontal lines and create intrigue. Douglas Fir is a good middle ground choice of timber. Western Red Cedar or Eastern White Cedar would be the best quality for this type of project, virtually knot free, naturally weather resistant and looks fantastic, however these timbers are very expensive if you’re working on a budget.

Once the paving was down and the battens were in, the next part of the project was to fit the anthracite aluminium siding doors. 1800mm by 2100mm high was the size chosen to balance as much light as possible inside the studio while keeping the wall space for privacy. The doors were relatively straightforward to fit, first we cut back the flooring and the 18mm OSB so that we could have the glass door as flush to the paving and internal space to minimise the step over. We fitted the frame and track ensuring exact plumb levels then packing around the frame to secure it. Once the frame was in, we fitted the glass into the door and the fixed panel, then the rubber gaskets around the glass were secured. Lastly the door was sealed with expanding foam to insulate.

It is clear to see how the internal and external paving help to make the garden and extension feel like the same living space. This is helpful to make small gardens feel bigger while blending the indoor-outdoor feeling.

The client asked us to fit wall mounted grey fibreglass planters to the battens to give a vertical green garden feel while not losing any floor space. We also built two planters, 60cm/60cm/60cm for an olive tree and lavender bushes and a 60cm/60cm/240cm as a large, raised plant bed. This large plant bed was positioned on the north side of the garden and receives the most amount of sunlight throughout the day and year. The client wanted to grow vegetables in this planter and have another olive tree to create symmetry on either side of the home office.

With the planters in place, all that was left to do were the fun final touches. Oh, and fill the planters with nearly a ton of soil! The planters were built inexpensively using treated decking boards and treated timbers. The sides were lined with plastic vapour barrier and the bottom of the planters had landscaping fabric fitted, to stop the soil coming out onto the paving.

As you can see, the results speak for themselves, the paving is crisp, perfectly level and with exact 4mm gaps. The batten fencing is precise and clean providing a feeling of Scandinavian warmth and privacy. The plants in the wall boxes and planters have been carefully selected for the amount of sunlight they receive. Ferns and plants that like the darker areas along the southern wall and on the opposite side we selected olive trees, lavender and honeysuckle to enjoy sunlight for much of the day.

The garden provides an additional room to the house, perfect for entertaining and feeling closer to nature. Adding an awning helps to extend the use of your new garden space. During the wettest days of the year an awning provides cover from the rain, and in the hottest months it can provide solar shading for eating outside, and to stop the extension from heating up through the large glass doors.

Outdoor mirrors are a clever way to make the garden feel larger. The mirrors featured above help to break up straight lines and provide reflections which extend your view adding a greater sense of space.

The battens were fitted on all sides of the office and garden walls, making the two blend seamlessly with each other. This stops the office from standing out in the garden and camouflages the size and dimension of the structure. The home office has 3 spotlights, many sockets and a small wall mounted heater, all powered from its own fuse board. With the solid foam insulation and heater this space can be used all year round as a home office, small gym or even a guest bedroom or Airbnb.

We are so proud to show you the finish of this garden space project, it has a timeless modern feel, and we are sure the client will enjoy many BBQs and family gatherings in their beautiful new garden.

Should you need any garden building services or garden studio building, or you think a friend or family member would benefit from our skills please do not hesitate to get in touch.