Luxury Garden Room, Astley

The project – Luxury Garden Room 

PJH Architectural Services have recently completed drawings for an exciting new Bespoke Luxury Garden Room and Golf Pod project, inclusive of landscaping works, in Astley, Wigan. Having designed and built their own house in recent years, our client was keen to maximise the potential of their property and take advantage of the generous external space to the rear. Aiming to create a bespoke bar & garden lounge for socialising in the summer, alongside a state-of-the-art Golf Pod for those days when the course feels just a little too far away! Having explored a number of our previous projects, our client appointed PJH to put a contemporary spin on the new garden room, bringing in our expertise to take advantage of the potentially challenging split level site.

The design 

The drastic level changes across the rear garden became quickly apparent during our detailed measured survey of the site. Nonetheless, they provided opportunities for unique interior spaces to be crafted in relation to the split levels. The existing garden area, while well maintained, felt disconnected from the main dwelling and was therefore unloved by our client. Therefore, proposals needed to help maximise the connectivity between the main dwelling and the garden, providing a more cohesive home for our clients.

The new Luxury Garden Room was split into two distinct zones – the ‘Social’ space and the ‘Active’ area. Designed with visual connectivity in mind, the social space consists of internal and external bar areas complete with picture glazing and full height sliding doors overlooking the garden. The exterior bar area is partially enclosed to ensure year-round use, with the roof of the new Garden Room projecting out and elegantly connecting to the existing garage. The bar area internally is complete with a snug area and log burner for a cosy atmospheric aesthetic particularly during the colder months!

Hugging the angled site boundary line, the new garden room stretches around the side of the site, providing privacy from surrounding dwellings as well as allowing for access across the level changes throughout. Between the social bar area and active golf pod, an interlinking social seating area connects the spaces while also providing a subtle transition of levels throughout the garden room and into the Golf Pod. Moving down into the Golf Pod, the lower floor levels allows for the maximised ceiling heights internally needed for practicing your swing, while minimising external disruption. The golf area opens out onto a newly landscaped patio area with elegant new steps and stepped seating up to the main garden area.

Planning

Once the drawings had been finalised, we worked with our client to have a set of visuals produced in order to help our clients fully visualise their proposed designs, as well as to aid in the planning process to allow the planning officers and neighbours to have a true to life understanding of the proposals being submitted for the new Luxury Garden Room. Having worked alongside engineers and arboriculturists to ensure feasibility throughout, once we were all happy with the proposals a detailed set of planning information was submitted to planning, inclusive of tree surveys and reports to ensure the proposals were in keeping with Wigan Councils in house Arboriculturist requirements.

Building regulations & tender

Planning was submitted in May 2023, and we’re delighted to have recently been granted approval on our Luxury Garden Room project. On receipt of planning we’ve produced our detailed building regulations and tender package of information, which has been put in front of our client in conjunction with structural engineers information to enable the project to be tendered to a selection of local contractors.

Thinking of pursuing something similar to this project? Feel free to take a look at some of our blogs:

PJH Eco Series: Solar Panel Retrofit To Existing Dwellings
PJH Eco Series: Ground Source Heat Pump Retrofit
PJH Eco Series: Insulation Retrofit To Existing Dwellings

If you need any advice on the first steps of designing and planning an external renovation project, extension or new build feel free to get in touch for a brief chat, we are here to help.

Email: enquiry@pjhas.co.uk

Tel: 0161 4600382