If you’re considering installing a toilet in a garden room or on a glamping site with minimal fuss, perhaps one of the water less eco-toilets available in the UK may very well be for you…

A gorgeous example of an eco-loo by http://www.eco-toilets.co.uk/

It is usually possible (under permitted development) to install a small garden-studio at the end of your garden without requiring planning consent but if your plans involve connecting this building to the mains water, you may then find that a full planning application is required.

The cost of applying for and gaining your planning approval (circa £1,500+) plus digging up the garden to put in a water supply and a sewage outlet, (which may need a pump if the lie of the land isn’t suitable) can increase the your capital outlay significantly (several thousand pounds).    Installing an eco-toilet not only avoids all this expenditure, it also means that a toilet can be installed within a couple of hours.

A 5x4 closed for an Ecotoilets, dry composting toilet installed at an allotoment

If cost savings aren’t enough,  research would also indicate that adding water to human waste is a problematic way to dispose of our sewage and although it’s the most common practice it’s certainly not the best solution from an environmental perspective.

Composting toilets treat human excrement using biological processes, turning it into organic compost material that can be used to fertilise the soil. They are small-scale, complete waste processing systems. Composting toilets are an excellent example of sustainable design. They provide a safe and effective way to save resources and prevent pollution, whilst saving money and energy for the owner and the community. At the same time they produce a valuable end-product that can be used to fertilise the soil.

Eco-Toilets cater for glamping sites and they state on their website that: “Composting toilets offer a wonderful solution, especially as the ‘green’ credentials of such toilets can be used in publicity to encourage campers to not only enjoy themselves, but help the environment at the same time! They save huge quantities of water in a world where water is an increasingly scarce resource, and require very little infrastructure. We have now developed a combined toilet and shower cabin, which can be sited almost anywhere, offering a wonderful shower, a smart and pleasant toilet and, if required, a water treatment system to recycle the water and urine output and return it to the cabin meaning very low water consumption too.”

Another supplier (WooWoo), who have a myriad range of fantastically cool eco-toilets (as per the picture below) state on their website that:

WooWoo eco-toilets website http://www.waterlesstoilets.co.uk/

“We provide waterless, composting and low water toilets for a huge range of applications. From large capacity public toilet systems to compact composting toilets for boats. Easy assembly – watertight – minimum maintenance – no water – no electricity – no chemical products – waste is transformed into a neutral, odour free material – 100% ecological.

Of course, it’s possible to contact either of the suppliers mentioned above and ask them to construct you their own style toilet unit for you and provide the toilet as one package.

Alternatively,  we can source the toilet on your behalf and install it into a mini-rotunda to complement your garden-room. The image below is a 2m internal diameter Rotunda with a 100mm wall cavity, single skinned poly carbonate dome and surface mounted lights.

Another eco-loo by www.eco-toilets.co.uk this time installed in a custom-built 2m diameter Rotunda w/c

 

………..Have you been thinking about whether you should buy a yurt for your school or nursery?

Could this be the quick-fix solution you’ve been looking for for the additional space requirements for the 30 hours free childcare scheme?

…………STOP RIGHT THERE! 

It’s a romantic idea alright, and if you DO buy a yurt, it’s certainly going to be cost-effective, eco-friendly and the children will love it….. providing it’s not winter (which, in the UK seems perpetual) and providing that you don’t need insulation, or electrics, or a washbasin…. needless to say this probably wouldn’t comply with any buildings regulations or codes of practice usually required for commercial establishments.

So really, let’s get to the bones of it.

It’s a tent.

Essentially made up of garden trellis, canvas and supporting lightweight roof poles with a pretty wooden crown at the top upon which rests a clear plastic sheet for a rooflight.

Wonderful for a night away with loved ones, sitting around a campfire and drinking wine, but, it’s suitability as a classroom or nursery environment is somewhat questionable.

A lightweight and temporary structure is of course easier to sneak under the radar of the local planners without giving too much consideration to seeking planning approval (though, I must warn you, planning approval must still be sought if you buy a yurt for a school or childcare business), and of course it’s assembled in a jiffy and can be a magical space for storytelling….  but it’s not a classroom for a school. Or if it is, it’s an ‘outdoor classroom’ and one which is seasonal.

With the average cost of a yurt coming in at around £10,000.00 plus the additional funds required to lay the groundworks/decking, source furniture and prepare the site you may be looking at around about £15,000.00 for the whole kit and caboodle.

Considering that a modular, timber-framed classroom building would cost you at least double that, you are indeed making a wonderful saving.  But of course, these are the reasons it’s half the price of a timber school building:

  • It can only really be used for part of the year, in the summer months – for it’s not insulated and the walls are…… canvas
  • Heating options are limited – open flame is dangerous in a canvas structure, you may not have electricity for alternative options
  • The canvas needs re-proofing, tightening and regular maintenance
  • Mould and mildew has been known to creep up the walls
  • There are no windows
  • Condensation issues can arise
  • God forbid you face gale force winds…. A yurt can be (at best), flappy and wobbly and (at worst), prone to flying away!

Now, I’m sure you know what’s coming but, indulge me for a moment and allow me to list a whole ream of benefits to be made by investing more into a permanent, timber-framed school building which is designed for the purpose you’re seeking.   For really, there is no comparison.

Timber-framed, eco-friendly, Buildings Regulations compliant Roundhouses are….

  • Insulated, Insulated, Insulated!! The walls are over 25cm thick.
  • Finished internally with primed and painted internal wall linings, architraves, cover trims and high-spec detailing, behind which are damp-proof membranes &  service cavity.
  • Provided with large, Argon filled, low-e, toughened, double-glazed windows – from treated softwood to UPVC or powder coated aluminium, all windows are high-performance.
  • Feature a gorgeous double glazed polycarbonate (or glass on request) 90cm diameter rooflight dome in the cathedral roof
  • Include Full electrics, unlimited double-sockets, smoke detectors, GU10 LED lighting systems on a dual array with dimmer switches as standard
  • Can be intergrated with ethernet ports, underfloor heating, interactive whiteboards, InfraRed heating panels, combi-boilers and bathroom/w/c, kitchen facilities
  • Designed to have a lifespan which would probably exceed that of most of us reading this blog
  • British designed, british built, utilising british timber and a nurturing yet practical building.

buy a yurt

So, good luck with your expansion, and please, do still buy a yurt for your school, but make sure it’s a timber-framed one, a permanent one and a beautiful one.

Called, ‘Rotunda‘.  

Enjoy this wet, windy weather!!

grant for green spacesGrant Funding to improve your local green space from Tesco – just a little way in which you may be able to secure additional funds to form part of your Rotunda project:

Bags of Help is Tesco’s local community grant scheme where the money raised from the 5p bag levy in Tesco stores is being used to fund thousands of community projects across the UK. The projects must meet the criteria of promoting community participation in the development and use of outdoor spaces.

Bags of Help is administered by Groundwork and supported in Scotland by greenspace Scotland, have local Enablers across the country who can assist you with your application form.

Bags of Help is now is always open to applications from community projects.

Groundwork assesses all of the applications received to ensure they are eligible. This is followed up by Tesco shortlisting groups who decide which projects go forward to the in-store vote.

Three local community projects will be voted on in Tesco stores each month across Tesco regions throughout England, Scotland and Wales. In each region, the project that received the most votes from all stores in their region will receive a grant of up to £5,000. The second placed project receives up to £2,000 and third placed up to £1000. Every year, over 7000 projects will receive funding through this scheme.

Local Enabler for the Greater Manchester region, Liz Edwards said “this is a great opportunity for schools and community groups to  take forward projects which will enhance their green spaces and find creative ways to increase their use of these”

Examples of the kind of projects groups can obtain funding for include improvements to playgrounds, paying for specialist training and support such as a Forest School Leader to work with your group, installing raised beds and seating to allow your group to grow food crops, buying in plants and seating and installing new paths to improve access to your site.

 

grant for green spaces page 2 garden building school room space

For more details and to check your project/group is eligible please check the location of your nearest Tesco store and complete the eligibility checker  www.groundwork.org.uk/Sites/tescocommunityscheme/pages/Category/apply-for-a-boh-grant-tes2 and don’t forget to request help from your local enabler.

 

 

Above & Beyond: Eco Furnishings

Today we were tasked with a slightly unusual request; – To source a high quality, ethically made, circular rug to feature in the centre of a client’s 4.5m Rotunda, “Roundel”. We enthusiastically obliged, excited at the opportunity to further our research into Eco furnishings to suit our Eco garden buildings.

It’s not uncommon for us to receive enquiries for bespoke furnishings for Rotundas, and it is one of the most exciting aspects of offering such an innovative garden room as it opens up so many opportunities to source creative alternatives to the bog standard fixture and fittings. What is even more fantastic is that because the Rotunda is such a beautiful and ethical piece of craftsmanship, it inspires our clients to rethink their usual furniture options and instead seek out pieces that reflect the quality of their garden building, often opting for natural and Eco alternatives.

After a bit of research into environmentally friendly rugs we came across ‘rag rugs’  which are usually made from cloth scraps, old sheets, and up-cycled t-shirts. Due to the nature of the materials, the finished result is colourful and intricate, and looks both beautifully simple and yet strangely complex; not unlike a Rotunda. It was immediately clear that this fantastic example of Eco furnishings was the perfect addition to a circular Eco-building. 

Once we had confirmed that the ‘rag rug’ concept was one to be pursued it wasn’t long before we not only found a wonderful craftswoman who makes beautiful, large rugs from organic cotton, but also the perfect design to suit Roundel’s spirit. The circular Eco rug, is crafted from a long braid of fabric that spirals outwards to create a mesmerising pattern of colour and texture. The particular creation which caught our eye transitioned from warm yellow to light teal creating an image of a golden sun radiating out into a clear sky which we thought mirrored the ideal view through the central dome of the Rotunda’s cathedral roof beautifully.

Eco Rug but Green At Heart

Misty Mint & Golden Yellow Sun Rug handmade by Laury from eco company Green At Heart

As a modular buildings manufacturer we could easily refuse to offer any kind of soft furnishing advice and many companies in our industry believe firmly that their obligations extend no further than providing the base building; even a paint finish is considered an optional extra. We believe that Rotunda is more than just an Eco building and that we are actually creating a full space that enriches the lives of those who use it; if this calls for us to go above and beyond then we are happy to accept that challenge.

If you are interested in developing your own Rotunda space with us then please don’t hesitate to get in contact and begin your journey to creating your own creative solutions in the round.

Size Matters: Tiny Houses and why living smaller is better.

rotunda tiny house environment eco-classroom garden room

Over the last few decades we have been bombarded with slogans and messages informing us that ‘Bigger is Better’ and encouraged us to believe that happiness, success and even value are directly associated to size. This thinking is also applied to our homes. We often use the size of our abode as a physical representation of our success, and forget what our actual living requirements are, for example if you live alone and spend most of your time out of your house, do you really need those additional four bedrooms?

 

Thankfully more and more people are starting to break the mould and a large movement has formed supporting the creation and development of Tiny House Living, which encourages people to  reassess their actual spacial needs. By drastically reducing the amount of house space available, people are being challenged to really consider the design of their environment; leading to some highly creative and very clever solutions being found.

 

There are also a number of other benefits of swapping your mansion for a small cabin house; 

 

Easier Maintenance

A smaller house means smaller repairs and less general maintenance and upkeep. What’s more a number of tiny houses are constructed from timber, recycled materials, or natural building products which are much easier and cheaper to repair/replace.

 

Less Time Cleaning

Even an empty room can get messy and dirty! A smaller space means less time can be spent on keeping it clean.

 

Saves Money

A smaller house is cheaper to build, cheaper to buy, and cheaper to run! Insurance, utilities, and taxes are all much lower for smaller properties which leaves you with more of your hard earn wages to spend on enjoying yourself.

 

Less Debt

As mentioned above, a smaller home is much cheaper which also leads to smaller mortgages, or in some cases can be built without a requirement for a mortgage at all!

 

More Land

Even if you haven’t got acres and acres of land, the smaller the footprint of your house, the more land you’ll have around it. This opens up more opportunities for growing your own produce, keeping chickens or bees, or even just creating a beautiful outdoor space to enjoy.

 

Closer Family Bonds

Smaller spaces mean more interaction between family members and strengthen family bonds. Of course it’s still important for everyone to have their own space, but with some imagination and a little bit of smart planning, the possibilities for creating a unique area for each family member are endless.

 

Easier Resell

Affordable houses are always more attractive to the housing market than expensive ones. With so many people struggling to find the funds for homes, being able to offer a quirky, more affordable option makes it highly desirable.

 

In addition there are also huge environmental benefits as having a smaller footprint also means; less resources spent, smaller carbon footprint, and less impact on the environment. Combining the small house design with an eco build such as straw bale, timber framed, earth bag, or cob is an even more sustainable option.

 

Tiny Houses can be made from the most unlikely of things too; from shipping containers to pre-fabricated units, metal silos to traditional wooden gypsy caravans. And just because it’s small it doesn’t mean it has to be ugly or low quality, in fact being able to spend less on the building itself means you could have extra to really splash out on the interior.

A shift in perspective…… windows in a modular building

modular round building windows

Noun 1. window – a framework of wood or metal that contains a glass windowpane and is built into a wall or roof to admit light or air

Our clients are often surprised to discover that their modular building windows are made to order, handcrafted by a local joinery firm who excel at detailed bespoke joinery and create a stunning curved sill which mirrors the external curve of the building.

Each and every garden modular building which leaves our workshop has had the windows designed to be suit a particular view or purpose, sited at the appropriate distances from each other and a specific size to suit our clients vision for a building they’ll be spending a great deal of time in.

The importance of having this option cannot be underestimated.  Building in the round brings the unique advantage of being able to ‘rotate’ your Rotunda and play with the position of the doors and the windows which is quite impossible with a rectilinear counterpart.

Most contemporary square or rectangular garden rooms boast a fully glazed frontage, either bi-fold, sliding doors; or UPVC casements.   This is wonderful if your garden-building is sitting squarely in the rear of the garden with no view of particular interest anywhere other than the front but what if one were siting their garden room adjacent to a field, meadow or sea-view to the rear/side or even a full panoramic setting – must they exclude certain views because these happen to be at the ‘back’ of the building? Does the door always have to be at the front? How creative can one be with a rectangle? Let’s face it, a box will always be a box.

garden room windows

Fortunately, for us, this never presents a problem; you see, the round is like a clock-dial.  A wonderful opportunity presents itself when we can move the hands to any direction we might choose, or even better have as many hands as we like, pointing in every direction.  One of our clients aligned her Rotunda with the directions of the magnetic compass points to meet her feng shui objectives.  We commissioned some beautiful little ‘north, south, east & west’ carvings and positioned these little plaques along the internal roof-line to represent compass points and indicate which direction one may be facing as they move around within the building.  Another client has asked us to design a Rotunda with double glazed windows positioned all the way around the whole perimeter of the building.  Most of our clients have a hedge or a fence they’d like to keep out of view so we position the windows to align with the view.

Not the view aligning with the windows!

“The Burrow” a 4.5m Rotunda modular building which you can see below (currently being constructed) has just three floor to ceiling windows positioned as a bay configuration next to the door. This is just a small example of how windows can make a massive impact. Your view, your building and ultimately it should be your ideals and your vision which can be interpreted, designed, created and installed to suit your needs…… perfectly.

rotunda modular building construction

Below is a list of standard UK window sizes… these are a great starting point when considering what size might suit your Rotunda modular building.

• Window heights are 450mm, 600mm, 750mm, 900mm, 1050mm, 1200mm, 1350mm and 1500mm (17¾in, 24in, 29½in, 35½in, 41¼in, 47¼in, 53⅛in and 59in).

• Window widths are 488mm, 630mm, 915mm, 1200mm and 1770mm (19¼in, 24¾in, 36in, 47¼in and 69¾in).

Essentially, our ‘standard’ windows which form part of the package for a Rotunda are 900mm high and 630mm wide with the option to upgrade to full height (1500mm high)  but with the right amount of imagination, you can disregard these sizes and make your own size, to suit you, to suit your garden and to suit your activities within the building.

Call us now if you have any questions relating to your preferred modular building window configuration and we’ll be happy to chat through your designs!

ps.  fear not,  a UPVC window, will never (ever) find its way into a natural, timber-framed Rotunda modular building.

Until then, enjoy the sun & enjoy your garden!

Blogpost written by Gemma

Round Garden Rooms: The ultimate creative space

Creative Space – Rotunda Garden Room

This blogpost almost didn’t appear today… I have been suffering from a baffling case of writers block and despite the numerous nudges from our SEO professional and the never ending blog-worthy subjects that have popped into my mind over the last few weeks my creativity had just disappeared! Then, moments ago, I opened a book to wind down for the evening and my creative spark alighted!

rotunda living round garden rooms

Creativity is a delicate creature.  Some may say that my creativity is in the spaces I create with my clients; in fact, the birth of the ‘Rotunda’ garden room was a deeply creative process (whilst pregnant and idealistic!) wishing to create round sanctuaries which would benefit both the environment and the human experience.

To be creative isn’t a process which can just be switched on and off like a light switch, and yet, how do musicians and artists manage to work on their creative arts on a daily basis? Perhaps they don’t, perhaps they too need to take a few days or weeks out to re-calibrate their creative minds!

I’ve always maintained that being in the ‘Round’ (whether in a circular garden room or in a yurt) seems to amplify the energy of those activities taking place within it.  The years in which I spent working in a roundhouse were without doubt the most productive of my life.   Coincidentally, we moved into a rectangular office earlier on this year and I am not enjoying it half as much as I enjoy the round.   The buzz seems to be missing; although we are busier than ever it’s a functional and serious busy rather than the excited uplifted feeling one experiences in the round!

Over the last 12 months I’ve been noticing the correlation between all of our clients and how they use their Rotundas… the overwhelming majority are using their round garden room as therapy rooms, meditation rooms, yoga or spiritual purposes.   A large percentage are utilising them for arts/music and creativity whilst others treat their Rotunda as a secret hideaway and spare guest bedroom for surprise visitors .  The very last few are used as garden offices and one is soon to be used as a family home.

So, creative spaces, therapy rooms and meditation or yoga studios are at the very top of the list…. 

garden room meditation yoga studio relaxation treatment therapyIt is no surprise to me that the calming and uplifting energy of the round is attracting those of us who wish to enhance their ability to heal and create – the cornerstones of our human essence.  It would appear that creatives and healers appreciate the benefits that energy and form can bring to your life when everything around you is oh so terribly and absolutely square.

Rhiannon (our business development manager) and I sat down with some dulux colour charts and chose bright vibrant greens, deep oranges and pinks for the rectangular office;  this is our first step towards making our space as creative, uplifting and vibrant as possible, irrespective of the unfortunate rectangular shape! We’ve realised that to have a creative space one must rely on colour if not form! (We shall post photos on facebook next week for those of you who follow us on there!)

A creative space is vital, for all of us as human beings.  If you have a desire to enhance your creativity or would just like to maintain your current activities in an uplifting and uncluttered space, the Rotunda may be the space in which to thrive.

If you’d like us to design your creative or therapy garden room space for you please do get in touch, we only have two installation slots left for 2014!

…….Let’s create!

 

Blogpost written by Gemma

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright © Rotunda Roundhouses Limited.