Prefab structures that can save on time and costs are similarly in hot demand: the homeware brand Bert & May, known for its covetable patterned tiles, also produces stand-alone ‘Bert’s Boxes’, like little cabins, and has seen a 50 per cent increase in enquiries since the first lockdown started. Its latest, the Study Box (from £33,000, bertsbox.co.uk), is designed specifically as an office, with full-height windows to connect homeworkers with their outside space (pictured below).
The new breed of garden room has a cool, contemporary aesthetic and a focus on improving the concentration levels and overall happiness of whoever is using it. ‘If there is one thing we have all learnt from this pandemic, it’s that our mental and emotional health is hugely impacted by the environment surrounding us,’ says Freddie Sheridan of design agency Sheridan&Co, which recently launched a collection of bespoke garden rooms that it calls Breathing Rooms (pictured second from top; from £15,000, spacetofokus.com). Similarly characterised by walls of glazing that open up the space to the outside world, the structures are intended, says Sheridan, to ‘empower you to work your best, be productive, and boost your well-being’.