We’ve been looking at building a bigger shed recently.
Our pub shed is getting too small for all our stuff and it’s going to come down so we figured we may as well put up a bigger one.
We wanted to make it pretty much as big as we legally could, without having to mess around with planning permission.
I really wasn’t sure how big that would be, though, so I decided to look into it.
So, what is the maximum size shed without planning permission?
Garden sheds without planning permission must be one storey, with a maximum height of 2.5 metres. As long as the shed has no raised platforms, verandas, or balconies, it can cover as much as 50% of the area of your home without planning permission.
So, generally, garden sheds don’t really need a whole lot of planning permission.
In certain circumstances, like any planned shed within the curtilage of a listed building or designated land, you will need permission.
In general, though, you won’t as long as it fits the above mentioned dimensions.
Let’s look further into this.
Do I need planning permission to build a shed?
In general, no.
Sheds are considered to be permitted developments, meaning they don’t require any kind of special planning to be built.
This isn’t always the case, though, but by and large you won’t need planning permission to build a shed.
There are some definitions of what constitutes a shed, though.
They must be a single storey, and the eaves cannot exceed 2.5 metres in maximum height.
They also are typically wooden or plastic, and not anything sturdier than this.
So, there are a few important caveats.
If you wanted to build something with more than one storey, you essentially are not building a shed.
Therefore, whatever it is, you would need to get planning permission for it.
They must also be used for certain things: storage, hobbies, or as a workshop, typically.
Of course, the defined use is likely to be much more ambiguous, but if you’re building something you may regularly want to sleep in, for example, you may need planning permission for that.
Any kind of insulation, for example.
In any case, though, ordinary sheds are permitted developments, and you don’t need to worry about getting planning permission.
So, what about larger sheds?
Do I need planning permission for a large shed?
Dimensions can get tricky, so let’s break down exactly what we would mean by a large shed.
The ordinary defined dimensions of an acceptable shed, for which you would not need planning permission of any kind, cannot exceed 4 metres total in height, if it is a dual pitched roof.
For a flat roof, it’s 3 metres.
The eaves cannot exceed 2.5 metres in height, and the entire structure cannot be higher than 2.5 metres if the shed is within 2 metres of the main dwelling.
Outbuildings, further, should cover only half of the area covered by the original dwelling, and no more.
As long as your shed stays within these definitions, you will not need planning permission.
For anything larger than this, you are going to need planning permission, and in some cases the building may not even legally be defined as a shed anymore.
What’s the biggest shed I can have without planning?
Again, the main thing is that it depends on the size of your original dwelling.
Even if you have a garden that’s bigger than your house, you can’t build a shed on it that’s larger than your own dwelling without planning permission—indeed, even half as large.
So, that’s the first thing you need to figure out.
Once you have an idea of the size of your house, you can work backwards to know what the floor space of the shed can be.
Then, again, you’ll have to think about the height and the closeness of the shed to the house.
If you want a tall roof, put the shed at least 2 metres from the dwelling and give it an apex roof.
This will give you 4 metres of height to play with.
So, as long as you keep it to one storey and keep it less than half the size of your original dwelling, your shed can essentially be as big as you like.
Your shed does need to fit fairly strict design dimensions, then, if you don’t want to get planning permission involved.
It will depend on a lot of factors, including the overall size of your property and whether you live on any kind of designated land.
That said, you can still start some considerable and sizeable projects without planning, as long as you stick within these confines.