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planning & building control.

Taken from the city planning guide

Planning permission is not required for a shed, garden room or ühut if you meet the following criteria:

  • Is located to the rear of the property (behind the front elevation or elevation that faces a road).

  • Is not used as a bedroom.

  • It does not exceed a total of 4m in height (3m to eaves).

  • Any part of the building within 1m of the boundary does not exceed 2.5m in height.

  • The building footprint is not greater than 50% of the property's outside space.

  • Is not in a conservation area (unless the area of the building is under 4m²).

  • Is not within the boundary of a listed building.

  • Is not part of a flat, apartment, or tenement.

  • In conservation areas the footprint of the freestanding building does not exceed 8 square metres

 

Building Regulations ensure that the structure is safe and is constructed to a high standard. In general a building warrant won't be required if the floor area of the outbuilding is less than 15m² (the largest hut is less than 8m² so it's tickety-boo)

Building regulations don't apply ONLY if the building does not contain any sleeping accommodation.

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The ühut is 2.4m High. This is specifically so that it can sit within a metre of your boundary and still not need planning consent.

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Edinburgh council has a great quick guide which can be found here: Shed Quick Guide

688 distances from borders.png

basic dimensions for 688

For all the huts I build I need about 350mm around the hut to be able to fit in to screw it together.

It also means that in the longer term you can get around for painting and maintenance.

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This means that with side of the 688, the distance from the edge of the minimum slab size to the border is 350mm+ ((1900mm-1340mm)/2) = 630mm.

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This is due to the difference between the width of the base (1340mm) and the width of the hut at it's widest point (1900mm).

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The distance from the back is just 350mm.

stone paving slabs

A great example of a base using leftover slabs and created a fantastic, professionally laid, paved area. It drains well and is really level - an ideal surface to build on.

plastic cellular base

These can be bought from various suppliers and provide a really easy to lay base.

You can fill the cells with gravel or just leave them as is.

These panels are made from 100% recycled plastic and cost around £100 for an 8'x8' base.

laying a good base

There are a couple of reasons for laying a good & level base:

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1. To make sure your uhut goes up nice and straight.

If the base isn't level then as your hut rises from the floor it will become harder and harder to keep straight and for all the component parts to fit together.

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2. To get water away from the joists

under the floor of your uhut - getting water away from the wood of the floor as quicly as possible will ensure that your joists stay solid for as long as possible.

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Below are some good examples of bases we have built on (always lovely to arrive at a well prepared site)

Tonka

The two key elements (which I can't over-emphasise) are:

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level & well-drained

regular concrete slabs

You'll need 16 x 600mm² slabs to put an 8'x8' hut on.

They cost about £5 a slab.

Not as environmentally fantastic as the recycled plastic but if the slabs are recycled, it makes all the difference.

gravel filled frame

Works really well for drainage and really pretty when it extends beyond the base of the ühut.

Easy to implement too and costing around £80 for the materials.

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