Kitchens in a Rotunda

We routinely produce beautiful Kitchens and kitchenettes for use within a Rotunda Garden Building so if it’s functionality you need, you’re in the right place!

The kitchens come in two forms. The compact, kitchenette.

A full, domestic kitchen – with 600mm x 600mm units and a full, curved work surface.

Both options are furnished with high-spec bespoke handles and ironmongery (we offer you a selection) and Indesit cookers and hobs
https://www.indesit.co.uk/Life-Proof/Buying-Guides/Hobs , a granite composite sink (or similar) and an Integrated Fridge.

What makes a perfect therapy room in the garden?

It’s not uncommon to find a therapy room as an essential component in the garden for many UK Homeowners. It’s heartwarming to see so many therapists, yoga instructors, Reiki Masters and practitioners and energy workers taking the opportunity to establish their practice in the garden of their home.

Of course it’s possible to practice therapy and healing in all manner of spaces (and shapes). But, one basic fact of nature keeps us reminded that the way we live and build is out of sync with the rest of nature.

Most of the other species on this planet create nests, dens and burrows to support and nurture themselves and their young. Our species is the only one which puts itself in a square or rectilinear built habitat. (And interestingly, we seem to be the only one with a persistent and obvious disconnection from nature).

If you are therefore considering installing or building a therapy room in the garden we would suggest thinking carefully about the image you’d like to present to your clients and the environment you’d like to create to further enhance the healing or therapy experience.

We could count the myriad of ways in which a square space might not be the best expression of a holistic experience but it might be wise to consider the below considerations prior to installing your therapy room in the garden:

1. Aesthetics – how does the building look – does it sit well in the landscape, has it nartural and organic form?
2. Acoustics – is it sound-proofed and does it work well acoustically?
3. Energy – Did you know the Victorians used to be fond of circular and curved buildings due to their belief that the “Devil hid in the corners”? There could be some truth to this! Feng Shui practitioners advise us that there is no build up of negative qi or ch’i in a space without corners. (Qi is believed to be a vital force forming part of any living entity.  Qitranslates as “air” and figuratively as “material energy“, “life force”)
4. Ecological Consideration – With deforestation and habitat loss at an all time high it is absolutely worth checking the ethics of the manufacturer & questioning whether the timber is sourced from (a) The UK (locally grown – not flown!) and (b) from Certifiably Sustainable sources. It’s in our hands to support those who choose not to support illegal deforestation practices.
5. Practicality – If you are looking for a building in which to base your business you’ll need something more substantial than a garden shed or single skinned summerhouse. It may cost you more in capital outlay but a Therapy room in the Garden should be Buildings Regulations compliant, fully insulated, with full electrics and equipped with the features you’d expect to enable you to work to your greatest potential (underfloor heating/hot water etc!).

We hope you’ve gathered some ideas and insight! If you’d like to ascertain whether a Therapy Room in the garden would be a step in the right direction for you please do give us a call (0161 2223350) to arrange your non-obligation site survey.

Why we don’t (won’t) specify Tropical Hardwood Timber for Garden Buildings

As a manufacturer of Garden Buildings, we’ve taken sales calls from UK Hardwood and Specialist Timber importers for many years. Each time, it’s increasingly difficult for us to listen to the salesperson highlight the beautiful hues and outstanding qualities their routinely sold Tropical Hardwood species. In fact, we always remind the baffled salesperson that it’s our company policy. “We never purchase Tropical Hardwoods”.

Windows and doors for Garden buildings are often fashioned from products like “Idigbo” and “Iroko” and their names are cast about as if names of an inexpensive and infnitely available consumer item of which we can order for ‘next Day delivery’ for use as an inexpensive alternative to Oak for shopfitting and windows and doors. Tropical hardwood is a common sight in most peoples’ gardens. If not in their garden buildings it’s usually the central component to contemporary garden furniture.

We’re sad because the very term “Tropical Hardwood” is as obvious an explanation as one would need. In a world where deforestation is at an all time high, wildlife habitats are all but gone and Carbon levels in the atmosphere are at their highest; the act of taking more timber from our global rainforests is unthinkable.

These gorgeous timbers are the trees which are being taken from some of the last remaining primary rain-forests on this planet. Given the devastating effect of habitat destruction globally, the felling of these trees is tragic for the eco-system of the rainforest and the last tribes-people who live within them but many of the tree species sold in the UK (like “Idigbo”) are actually listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as VU – Vulnerable: at risk of extinction.

Almost 90% of West Africa’s coastal rainforest has already been destroyed and deforestation in the Congo Basin has doubled since 1990. Logging and agriculture continue to be two of the biggest threats to Africa’s tropical forests. For what? Our Garden Buildings?

So, next time you shop for anything crafted out of timber, please spare a thought for the global wildlife and be aware of the problems we are facing if we support the tropical hardwood timber trade.

Unfortunately even the certified PEFC and FSC timber is commonly switched with illegally harvested timber and 60% of all imported timber arriving to our shores is indeed illegal. This is why we will only ever specify UK Grown timber and avoid any imported timber – especially if it’s ‘tropical’. As long as manufacturers and specifiers continue to chose aesthetics and profits over our obligation to care for this planet the deluge of precious, almost extinct timbers will keep being traded until there is nothing left.

Let’s hope other joinery firms will unite and chose to stand firm. We chose Locally grown, not flown.

Offsite Construction. The most viable solution for UK Schools?

Schools across the country are considering expanding their current facilities to cater for growing class sizes and increase their intake.

Historically, the builders would be called in and a brick-built extension would be constructed over many months (or years!) which can be costly, messy and time-consuming. Fortunately, advances in modern day construction techniques have given firms like ours the opportunity to make alternative buildings available to schools which offer a more cost-effective solution to expanding their capacity. Modular buildings have recently been recognised by the Department for Education as primary educational spaces.

Did you know that?:

• Wood has far better insulation properties than other building materials such as concrete and brick. It is 350 times better at keeping in heat than steel, as you would expect as wood is a non-conductor of heat and electricity. Wood can also be prepared so that it stands up to the weather quite well, keeping heat in and draughts and rain out.
• Using wood to replace steel and other high energy materials in a building, it is possible to cut the carbon emissions per cubic metre by 0.9 tonnes.
• As well as reducing carbon emissions and carbon footprint, using wood as the major material in a building also can save on the overall budget. Some estimates put the saving at around 5% of the building cost of a brick built structure.
• Environmentalists favour timber framed buildings. Wood is the ultimate renewable building material when it is produced sustainably. As we fell trees (from well managed UK forests), we plant more and it is possible to generate a constant supply. Fast growing trees absorb carbon from the atmosphere and lock it in for the duration of it’s use – until released by eventual decay or fire.
• Studies have shown that the energy use in making a steel girder is over 10 times that used in producing an equivalent sized wooden beam from a piece of freshly sawn timber.

The department for education has recently revealed plans for establishing a new framework for delivering schools to meet the increasing demand for places.

The four-year offsite schools framework aims to utilise methods in the design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA) in addition to offsite techniques to create a more frequent production of school buildings. The overall target is to deliver up to 100 new school projects each year in the next five years.

DfMA is a specific design approach which focuses primarily on creating more simple manufacturing processes in addition to efficient assembly lines.

Why is eco-offsite construction a great option for school expansion?

This new framework is hugely positive for our education system. The modern eco-solution to traditional carbon heavy, labour intensive and old-fashioned building methods is now formally recognised by the Dept for Education. Contemporary Roundhouses are constructed entirely from UK timber, designed as nurturing spaces & some of the most aesthetically pleasing in the UK.

We shape our buildings. Thereafter, they shape us.

William Churchill

10 Reasons why an outdoor modular classroom would benefit your school

Garden Room Foundations: What are Ground screws?

The key to a perfect building lies in the very foundations it’s sat upon.
We often have clients ask us whether their building can be elevated up like a tree-house or safari lodge.

For many of you, the vision of your Rotunda-project is that of a majestic little building sitting atop a decked area or up against a hillside.

On a practical level some difficult sites may make it seemingly impossible to install foundations for a cabin or eco-building.

Some challenging conditions may include:

• Sloping site
• Tree protection zone – tree roots which require protection
• Pre-existing concrete slabs/cobblestones/patio (which you’d prefer not to uplift)
• flood zone

Traditionally, house builders or cabin manufacturers would specify concrete or hardcore foundation systems for many stand alone buildings.

Nowadays there are low-impact foundation alternatives. The ‘Ground Screw’ is not only more efficient to install but satisfies the requirements of the planning officers, National Parks authorities and local councillors in terms of minimal disturbance to topsoil and tree roots.

With the groundscrew, one can:

• Drill through concrete with a pilot hole and install the groundscrew in pre-existing paved or cobblestone areas
• Use them in a flood plain to elevate the building up to the required height
• Transform lawn areas into decked verandas without needing to pour concrete
• Install all year round – in a matter of hours.

It is really beautiful to see a foundation system being specified which does not require the use of heavy machinery like diggers, dumpers and skips but in fact just cleverly rotates down into the ground without the disruption to anything around it.

We routinely direct our clients to contact The Great British Groundscrew Company or Stop Digging if they are looking to embark on a project which may require this unique foundation system.

All the best,

Rotunda x

Rotunda Garden Buildings in prestigious Garden Centres

If you’re keen to spend a little time inside a Roundhouse to get an idea of our finishes and the overall look and feel of the Rotunda garden building you may now be able to do so…..

Rotunda Roundhouse buildings are already on display at two Blue Diamond Garden Centres in the UK.

The first of ten units are part of an onward drive by our distributor Jon Burke at World of Smile and his partners BlueDiamond Garden Centre Group to promote the Rotunda, along with a small selection of other exclusive, high quality garden buildings across multiple sites over the UK.

The step forwards into UK Garden Centres is a huge leap forwards for our small joinery firm as we expand into a larger organisation and extend our reach into the homes and gardens of domestic home owners who stumble across us whilst shopping at the retail outlet. We expect to see at least ten units exhibited during the course of 2019 with more sites popping up in 2020 through to 2021.

Nottingham….

The first Rotunda Garden Building to complete was at Bridgford Garden Centre in Nottingham. This one is being publicly unveiled at the opening day on the 26th of January. We chose a 5.5m en-suite Garden Annexe for this site which was the same model exhibited at the Glamping Show in September 2018.

This magnificent garden building boasts a curved, sweeping bespoke Kitchen dresser unit with an integrated hob, electric oven, integrated fridge and seamless sink unit which drops down below the smooth corian work-surface.

Fleet…

Sitting at the entrance of this impressive new Garden Center in Fleet is a little 3m garden room called “Joy”.  Given the dramatic roof line of this spectacular building, it’s only fitting that a curvy Roundhouse would sit at it’s entrance.  

What’s next….?

The third site is already underway for Bicester, Oxford. This time, Jon Burke and his team have designed a dual-wing 6.5m diameter garden building (similar to the below design) called “The Angel”…. This will serve as their sales-office and show-room. We’re installing it in April 2019.

Of course, you needn’t travel across the UK to a Garden Centre. If you’d like to book a visit to see a Rotunda which has been installed near you please don’t hesitate to drop us a line on 0161 2223350 whereby we’ll do our best to connect you with a client of ours who may be kind enough to allow you to see their pride and joy.

Have a lovely start to 2019! See you soon.

Rotunda x

Why choose 100% British Timber?

“We are the only modular buildings company in the UK who use 100% British Timber in their buildings.”

Gemma Roe

Most modular and garden buildings sold in the UK are usually clad with either Canadian or Siberian timber.   Not only is it absurd that timber is being flown half way across the world, it’s nowhere near as attractive as our homegrown British wood.

As a consequence, our own woodlands are suffering and traditional forestry trades and crafts are dying out.   We would like to reverse this trend.

We source the majority of our timber from local UK woodlands only, we love wood to have character and love to use Larch, Douglas Fir, Oak and Sweet Chestnut from our very own country – to promote active woodland management and encourage more woodland management schemes!