Horto has completely delighted their client Stephen Lock by building a high-quality, perfectly angled and architecturally stunning garden office at his home in York. Stephen, an international economic and political researcher and now working from his new garden office, travels the world, in particular Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia.
For Stephen and many other people, it makes perfect sense to manage their own time by working from home. In fact, the Office of National Statistics has recorded the highest number of people working from home since records began. The most likely rationale for the rise in home based working is the advantages both to the employer and employee, such as greater flexibility, avoiding the commute to work, which can be one of the most stressful and costly daily events in peoples’ lives, and increased productivity.
Even so, it can be difficult to get into a work frame of mind when working from a couch, bed or kitchen table that doubles as the office desk. Trying to set aside a space in the house that’s dedicated solely to work without any disturbances or distractions, from the ‘family to the fridge’, can be near on impossible.
Ellen Robinson from Horto Garden Rooms explains “flexible working that includes working from home can be genuinely beneficial, as research suggests, but it can be challenging to work from home effectively when you’re short of space”. Ellen adds “A major benefit of a garden office is not only the extra space, but a clear separation of the home from work. Of course the two overlap, but a few short steps to and from the garden office can go along way in keeping the two worlds apart”.
Reflecting on his newly constructed garden office, Stephen says “We chose Horto, because it was a local firm and the site survey was led by Gary who leads the building work himself. The Horto team gave us great advice and they carried out their work carefully and extremely tidily. Particularly, as regards to the wiring and placement of heater and junction box, they were extremely flexible and, we felt, able to be much more responsive than if it was a design bought in from a southern business, sub-contracted to third party builders”
Stephen adds “It made a huge difference that the Horto design team is also the building and wiring team. They’ve done a wonderful job with the flooring; internal walls and wiring. It looks great situated in our back garden; especially after Neil from the Horto team also implemented for us a new ‘lightscaping’, installing all-weather lighting in the garden. It looks spectacular lit up at night. We really couldn’t be happier. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend using Horto”
