Royal vs Platinum Garden Rooms Guide – Which Should You Choose?
| Feature | Platinum Garden Rooms | Royal Garden Rooms |
| Best for | Home offices, hobbies, studios and garden retreats | Premium offices, studios and larger multi-purpose rooms |
| Price position | Lower initial investment | Premium specification and price |
| Popular models | Fleet Apex and Odiham Pent | Bletchley, Buckingham, Denham and Marlow |
| Typical sizes | Fleet and Odiham available up to approximately 16×12 ft | Royal models available up to approximately 20×12 ft |
| Insulation | Fully insulated Fleet and Odiham models with insulated walls and roof | Premium fully insulated construction |
| Double glazing | 14mm double glazing on Fleet and Odiham | Higher-specification double-glazed garden room range |
| Design choice | Apex Fleet or contemporary pent-roof Odiham | Wider choice of distinctive Royal designs and configurations |
| Why choose it? | You want an insulated garden office or room with an excellent balance of comfort, quality and price. | You want a more substantial garden room with premium specification and additional floor-space options. |
Small Gallery of Customer Garden Rooms We’ve Built
Explore our photo gallery featuring garden rooms supplied and installed for our customers. From stylish home offices and creative studios to relaxing retreats and versatile living spaces, discover how our bespoke garden rooms can transform your outdoor space.
Customers Garden Rooms Supplied
Another one of our lovely buildings brought to life! Our Royal buildings are the perfect choice for a fully insulated, double-glazed, year-round garden room. Our customers came in to design the building with our sales advisor. This Royal is 10 foot x 16 foot with an apex roof with black felt tiles. The building also includes PVCu windows and door frames in the colour of your choice and Strongcore cladding painted in a Royal Exterior paint. The customer chose to include laminate floor and blinds for the windows also. Our base contractor constructed the heavy duty timber subframe base for the building and will be back to add decking to the base area together and our electrician will visit shortly to add the electrics to the building.
Lovely feedback to receive from our customer who recently had installed our Platinum Odiham 12ft x 10ft pent insulated garden room. Thank you for your comments 😀 ***** 5 out of 5 stars Mr C - December 21st, 2024 Happy with the range of summerhouses seen on site. Quality and pricing is good. It was easy to view and did not feel pressured into buying. Our queries were answered and we went ahead with our purchase, The summerhouse was installed on the date given. No issues. A good shopping experience.
We really did love receiving some photos of our customer's completed building which she's using as a hairdressing salon . The building is our Royal Pent Garden Room 20 foot x 8 foot which comes fully insulated, painted Strongcore, PVCu double glazed windows and doors and designed to our customer's specifications.
One of our customer's recently bought one of our Platinum Winchester Apex Garden Studios 12ft x 8ft. They had the studio painted, ply lined and with laminate flooring in advance at the manufacturer but they also wanted their very own bar to enjoy in there! Which of course we could do for them and what a nice addition to the building.
We always love seeing the finished result! From initial discussions to placing the order and sketching out the customer's desired building and then to actually seeing the building in our customer's garden is so satisfying and why we love what we do! This building is from our Royal range of fully insulated and double glazed garden rooms and is 12 foot x 10 foot with a pent roof which has EPDM rubber roofing as standard. PVCu windows and door frames, laminate floor and painted Strongcore cladding all in colours choices chosen by the customer.
Some lovely photos from one of our satisfied customers! This is one of our Royal Buckingham insulated and double glazed garden rooms measuring 10ft x 8ft. These buildings make great year round buildings and perfect for a home office. Our base contractor also laid our customer's timber subframe base for the building and our electrician has fitted the electrics including an air con unit.
10x8 Royal Garden Room supplied to a local customer, providing a smart and practical garden space for year-round use.
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Choosing the Right Garden Room Size
What Size Garden Room Do I Need?
The right garden room size depends mainly on how many people will use it, the furniture and equipment you need and whether the room will have one purpose or several. I always recommend planning from the inside out rather than simply buying the largest building that will fit the garden.
Measure your desk, office chair, cupboards, sofa, exercise equipment or hobby furniture and allow comfortable room to move around them. Then mark the proposed external footprint in the garden so you can see how the building will affect the remaining outdoor space. If you are still deciding on the type of building as well as its size, you can compare our complete range of garden rooms and garden offices.
Garden Office Sizes for One Person
For a straightforward one-person office, an 8×6 garden room can be a sensible starting point where you mainly need a desk, office chair and modest storage. An 8×8 garden room gives you a little more flexibility, particularly because of its square footprint.
If you want a larger desk, more storage or occasional seating, I would compare a 10×8 garden room or 10×10 garden room. These give one person considerably more freedom without immediately moving into a very large garden building.
Garden Office Sizes for Two People
For two permanent workstations, I would normally start by looking at around 10×8, 10×10, 12×8 or 12×10 depending on the size of the desks and storage required. A compact two-person office may work at the smaller end, but more floor space makes it easier to avoid chairs, cupboards and monitors competing for the same area.
A 12×10 garden room gives approximately 120 square feet of nominal floor area and is a particularly useful size where two people need proper workstations plus useful storage or occasional seating.
Larger Garden Rooms for Work and Leisure
Once you move into sizes such as 12×12 and 16×16 garden rooms, the building can become genuinely multi-purpose. There can be enough room for several workstations, seating, exercise equipment, hobbies or separate working and relaxation zones within the same room.
I would only move to these larger sizes where the additional space will genuinely be useful. A bigger garden room costs more, requires a larger base, and takes up more of the garden, so the right size matters more than choosing the largest one that fits.
Metric and Imperial Garden Room Sizes
Metric Garden Room Sizes
We also group garden rooms by popular metric dimensions. These include 4m x 3m, 4m x 4m, 5m x 3m, 5m x 4m, 5m x 5m, 6m x 3m, 6m x 4m and 6m x 5m garden rooms.
These category names are useful size guides rather than a guarantee that every building listed measures exactly those dimensions. Different manufacturers use different standard sizes, and selected ranges offer bespoke dimensions, so always confirm the actual measurements of the individual model before preparing a base.
Imperial or Metric Garden Room Sizes?
There is no practical advantage to choosing a garden room simply because it is described in feet rather than metres. Many timber garden buildings are still manufactured around traditional imperial dimensions, while customers increasingly plan their gardens and furniture in metric measurements.
The important thing is the actual external and internal dimensions. For example, a nominal 12×10 room and a room described as roughly 3.6m x 3m occupy a very similar footprint, but individual manufacturers may use slightly different measurements.
Garden Building Experience Since 1979
My Garden Building Experience Since 1979
I’m Robin Antill, founder of 1st Choice Leisure Buildings. I left school at 15 and started my own garden building business in 1979, trading as Marina Sheds. Those early years gave me first-hand experience making, selling, and supplying timber garden buildings, and taught me how much difference the correct size and specification can make.
I sold Marina Sheds in 1990, although unfortunately I did not receive all the money I was due from the sale. It was a difficult business lesson, but it did not end my involvement with garden buildings.
By 1992 we had expanded beyond traditional sheds to include summerhouses, garages, garden rooms and log cabins, and that broader direction led to the name Titan Garden Buildings. My son Craig joined me in 1992 after studying carpentry at Guildford College from 1990, bringing his practical carpentry knowledge into the family business.
We sold Titan Garden Buildings in 1998 and in 2000 formed 1st Choice Leisure Buildings. Rather than being restricted to one manufacturer’s products, Craig and I wanted to use our experience to select quality garden buildings from different manufacturers and give customers a genuine choice. Craig now runs the day-to-day business, and I continue to support him and the team whenever required.
Furniture, Internal Space and Insulation
Why I Recommend Choosing Size Around Furniture
After working with garden buildings since 1979, one mistake I have seen repeatedly is choosing a building from the external dimensions without properly considering what has to fit inside it. A desk may fit, but that doesn’t mean there is enough room to pull the chair back, open a cupboard, or move comfortably through the office.
Measure the furniture you already own or intend to buy and sketch it inside the proposed internal dimensions. Remember that framing, insulation and internal lining reduce the usable space compared with the nominal external size.
Do I Need a Bigger Garden Room for Insulation?
Insulation reduces the finished internal dimensions slightly because insulated wall, floor and roof construction occupies space. The difference may not matter much in a large room, but it matters in compact garden offices where every centimetre of usable space counts.
If regular year-round use is a priority, compare our insulated garden rooms and offices and check the exact construction and internal dimensions of the individual model rather than choosing purely by the headline size.
Space Around the Garden Room and Base
Remember Space Around the Garden Room
Do not assume that because a 4m x 3m or 12×10 building physically fits between your boundaries, it is automatically the correct size. I recommend leaving sensible access around the building wherever possible for installation, maintenance, treatment and drainage.
Also consider the position of doors and windows, neighbouring properties, natural light and how much garden you want to retain. A slightly smaller room with proper access and a good outlook can be a better long-term choice than a larger building squeezed tightly into the available space.
Plan the Base Around the Exact Garden Room Size
Do not prepare a base from the nominal size name alone. An 8×6, 10×8 or 5m x 4m category helps you compare buildings, but the precise external dimensions can vary between models and manufacturers. Establish the exact base dimensions required for the garden room you order before starting the foundation.
A suitable base should be firm, flat and level and appropriate for the particular building and site conditions. Our garden room base and foundation guide explains the main options and what to consider before installation.
Garden Room Size and Planning Permission
Does Garden Room Size Affect Planning Permission?
Size can be relevant when considering whether a garden room falls within Permitted Development rights, but it is not the only consideration. The building’s height, position within the garden, amount of land covered, intended use and circumstances affecting the property can also matter.
If you are deciding how large your garden room can be, read our garden room planning permission guide as part of your planning and check with your local planning authority if you are unsure about the requirements applying to your property.
Garden Room Sizes – Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good size for a one-person garden office?
An 8×6 garden room can be a sensible starting point for one person with a desk, chair and modest storage. If you want a larger desk, more cupboards or additional seating, 8×8, 10×6 or 10×8 may provide a more comfortable working environment.
What size garden office do I need for two people?
I would normally start by comparing sizes around 10×8, 10×10, 12×8 or 12×10. The right choice depends on your desks, monitors, and storage needs, so measure the actual furniture before deciding.
What size garden room is suitable for several people?
Larger rooms such as 12×12, 16×16 and the larger metric categories can accommodate several workstations or mixed work and leisure uses. The final capacity depends on the exact internal dimensions and furniture layout.
Are garden room sizes exact?
Not always. Size names such as 10×8 or 5m x 4m are useful nominal categories, but exact external and internal dimensions vary by range and manufacturer. Always work from the specification of the individual building you order.
Should I choose imperial or metric garden room sizes?
Choose according to the actual dimensions rather than whether the building is described in feet or metres. Both systems are commonly used, and many category sizes are approximate equivalents rather than exact conversions.
Should I buy the largest garden room that fits?
Not necessarily. I recommend choosing enough space for the intended use, furniture, and future needs while still keeping the building in proportion with the garden and allowing sensible access around it.
Does the size of a garden room affect planning permission?
It can. Dimensions and height can affect Permitted Development requirements, along with the building’s position, the amount of land covered, its intended use, and any restrictions affecting the property. See our garden room planning permission guide if you need more information.
Why trust 1st Choice for garden room size advice?
1st Choice Leisure Buildings is a family business backed by my first-hand garden building experience since 1979 and Craig’s carpentry training and industry experience since 1992. We offer different manufacturers, sizes and specifications, which allows us to help customers compare their options rather than trying to make one standard building suit everybody.
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