Eco-friendly features you can look forward to

With our award-winning eco homes you can have luxury with a conscience, and we’re able to implement a full range of eco-friendly features to ensure you get the best possible outcome. Just a few of those features include:

• FSC or PEFC certified timber.
• Organic sedum roofs.
• Low-maintenance real wood or natural rubber flooring.
• Energy-efficient underfloor heating and flat panel heaters.
• Scandinavian windows and doors complete with energy glass for efficiency and thermal benefit.
• Low energy lighting.
• Low VOC paint.

… and many more besides.

Dedicated to going green

We’re committed to sourcing building materials that not only perform, but that are ecologically sound as well—all the timber used in construction, for example, comes from sustainable sources will full industry certification, with cladding of either premium grade western red cedar or Siberian larch coming from well-managed Canadian forests. We take a close look at energy output as well and will only ever utilise energy-efficient heat sources and lighting, with everything working together to ensure your eco home is the epitome of eco-friendly living.

Our eco buildings are specifically designed to achieve high efficiency ratings and are fully insulated to perform as well as modern houses, meaning you’ve got a long-term solution to your eco-friendly ideals as well as a short-term one. You can reduce your carbon footprint from every angle (and in the process could notice a difference in your energy bills too), with our commitment to the environment permeating every aspect of the design process for maximum results.

Everything built around you

We work hard to ensure we’re able to deliver the result our clients want first time, every time, designing everything according to individual requirements to ensure complete satisfaction. Of course, we’ll still have the environment as a key consideration but will work with you throughout the project to make sure we build everything around you, and whether you’re happy with one of our standard designs (and even these are far from standard) or have even higher expectations we’ll be able to accommodate.

The flexible, bespoke nature of our garden buildings means you’re bound to be happy with the results, and with such eco-friendly policies you can be sure you’re doing your bit whilst getting the space you want. So why not get in touch? With our eco garden rooms you’ll have the perfect solution to your needs, boosting your green credentials and leaving you with the ultimate outside space that can perform on every level.

The benefits of garden buildings

There are plenty of benefits to having a building of this kind, with just a few of them being:

• Range of applications. A garden building can be used for any application you see fit which makes it a highly versatile solution to any issue you may be facing, so whether you’re in need of a home office, a studio, extra living space or even a completely self-contained home unit you’ll find the solution to suit.

• Minimal planning issues. Unlike traditional extensions most garden studios won’t need planning permission, streamlining the construction process and meaning they can be ideal for any location necessary whilst offering the perfect room for your needs.

• Have a room with a view. With this way of operating you’ll have the ultimate room with a view, and you could even take it one step further by opting for glass-fronted garden studios—you’ll be able to make the most of your garden like never before, letting you appreciate it from a wholly different perspective.

• Fully customisable. Everything will be built according to your individual requirements to ensure you’ve got the garden room that’s perfect for your needs, and with utilities and a full range of features being included everything will be ready to go as soon as you are.

• Quick, simple solution. Most of the construction is completed off-site to ensure minimum disruption and total efficiency, with your room being craned into place with ease. It’s the ideal way to maximise your living space, being a budget-conscious, convenient yet highly effective solution to any home issue.

As you can see, if you want a way to maximise your living space then garden rooms should be high on the list of priorities. The bespoke nature of these buildings means they can be ideal for any home necessary, and as long as you’ve got a big enough garden (or not—with mini pods even the smallest of plots can benefit from this way of operating) you really can’t go wrong. And, if you’re after a building that can meet your high standards you’ve come to the right place.

Here at Pod Space we realise the desire for people to increase their living space which is why we create bespoke solutions that have been designed with the individual client in mind, ensuring the best possible outcome every single time. With our rooms you can make the most of your garden and can have the extra space you need, so get in touch and see what we can do.

1. Set a routine. A routine is vital for anyone working from home. You may not have the boss breathing down your neck but you’ll still want to stick to some form of a routine if you want to succeed—make a note of any deadlines and set a plan in place of how you’re going to achieve them, and ideally you’ll want to set a strict(ish) routine of working hours from day to day.

2. Strike the right balance. Of course, whilst you’ll need a routine you still want to make the most of this new level of flexibility and should allow yourself room to manoeuvre—chances are you chose to work from home for the convenience and the chance to strike a balance between work and personal life, so don’t be chained to your desk no matter how tempting it may be.

3. Separate your work and home life. Having a clear division between work and home life is vital in this kind of situation, because when things start to blend into one you’ll find it difficult to make the most of either area. Ideally you’ll want a home office from which to work, somewhere that you can escape to and where you won’t be disturbed, and a great option is a garden office—garden offices allow you to have a wholly separate place from which to work, and the short “commute” can help put you in the right mind-set too.

4. Set the scene. Getting the environment right is essential no matter how you choose to work—if you’re in a cluttered, bland space without the necessary equipment you won’t be motivated and nor will you be able to work to your full potential, so you’ll want to make sure you’ve got the right kind of environment from which to operate with everything you could need being close to hand.

5. Be organised. It isn’t just in your daily routine where you need organisation—it’s in every aspect of business management. You want to make sure you keep a record of your working hours, your incomings, expenses and individual projects so you don’t lose track, making sure you’re enjoying a financially viable arrangement whilst keeping clients (and the tax man) happy.

These are just a few tips you might want to bear in mind when working from home, and here at Pod Space we’re here to help. We realise the difference the right garden office buildings can make and that’s why we pride ourselves on producing garden rooms of the highest calibre, with our fully-customisable designs giving you the environment you need to really make the most of your new arrangement. If you want to see for yourself make sure to get in touch and you could soon reap the rewards of this way of operating.

For the best results, it’s important to select the ideal spot for your home away from home, and to make sure that you select an eco home provider capable of offering you the very highest standard of construction.

Hard done by

If you feel a little hard done by in terms of your days off, you’re not alone. It seems as though, by European standards at least, Britons fare badly in terms of the number of days of annual leave and bank holidays awarded.

According to research conducted by Hotels.com, Brits come bottom of the table when it comes to paid and public holiday entitlements, being offered a combined total of 28 days. This compares with 40 days in Russia, while Italy and Sweden were in joint second spot with 36 days.

Across the 12 European nations surveyed, the average annual leave and public holiday entitlement was 33 days, meaning UK citizens miss out on a full working week away from the office.

Commenting on the findings, Alison Couper from Hotels.com said: “It’s fascinating to think what we could do with an extra 12 days holiday a year, like those who live and work in Russia!”

Making the most of the holidays you do have

Here at Pod Space we might not be able to control how many days you get to spend away from the office, but we can help ensure you’re able to make the most of the holidays you do have.

Our eco holiday retreats are top-quality and they are the perfect base from which to enjoy some well-deserved time off.

By taking vacations within the UK like this, you can cut down on your travel time, meaning you get to spend more of your holidays actually letting your hair down, rather than on planes or ferries. Within a couple of hours’ drive, or even less, you might be able to reach your home away from home and let the good times commence.

Total luxury

Our eco-friendly holiday homes are constructed to the same high specifications as our sustainable garden studios and other buildings. However, they are made on a much larger scale and include bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens.

Low-cost

One of the issues on your mind when you think about holiday homes will no doubt be running costs. Traditional caravans and other similar constructions can consume vast sums of cash each year simply because they are so inefficient to heat and power.

However, we employ the best design techniques and materials to ensure that our eco homes are cheap to run. For example, we include programmable heating and low-cost renewable energy heating and cooling systems, combined with effective insulation.

To find out more about these homes, as well as our garden office buildings and other offerings, just take a look around our website.

How do I find responsibly sourced construction materials?
Responsible sourcing schemes for timber have been in existence since the early 1990’s with the now widely available Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification. Other timber schemes are also available to ensure that Timber has been sourced from well managed forests to ensure sustainability.

There are now industry standards for responsible sourcing set for the construction materials industry (BS8902 and BES6001). Suppliers that carry the BES6001 mark have been independently certified by the scheme for responsible sourcing of the materials they supply. A full list of these suppliers and products can be found at www.greenbooklive.com.

How do Pod Space use responsibly sourced materials?
Pod Space buildings contain large amounts of timber and we source this element of the construction materials to carry the FSC mark. The timber used in the cladding and framework of our buildings has been obtained legally from well managed and sustainable forests.

Other products such as the roof cladding on our Eco Pod and our plasterboard carry the BES6001 mark and we are constantly re-evaluating our suppliers to ensure that we are specifying responsibly sourced materials wherever possible.