Garden Room and Garden Studio Builders in South London
CanaCabins builds bespoke garden rooms and garden studios across East Dulwich, Dulwich, Peckham and the surrounding areas. A garden room is the most flexible thing you can add to a London house: an extra room, without the disruption, cost or planning fight of an extension.
- Based in East Dulwich, SE22
- 27 completed projects across South London
- Free site visit and written estimate, no obligation
Get a free estimate
Tell us what you are planning and we will arrange a visit to your garden.
What people use their garden rooms for
- A home office or study
- A gym
- An artist’s or musician’s studio
- A yoga or exercise room
- A guest room or teenage retreat
- A quiet room away from the house
Most of our clients start with one use in mind and end up using the space for three. We build with that in mind, so the room is insulated, wired and finished to a standard that works whatever it ends up being used for.
Garden room or extension?
An extension adds floor area to the house and usually adds more value. A garden room is faster, cheaper, far less disruptive, and in most cases needs no planning application. If you want an extra room and you have the garden for it, a garden room gets you there in weeks rather than months.
Built for South London gardens
Victorian terraces bring their own constraints. Access is often through the house or down a side return, gardens are long and narrow, and neighbouring boundaries are close. We have been working in these gardens since 2012, with over forty years in the trade behind us, and we design around those problems rather than discovering them halfway through.
Recent garden room projects
On Dunstans Road we built a garden retreat at the far end of the garden for a young expecting couple. On Silvester Road we built a cost-effective garden gym. On Crystal Palace Road we built a studio for a client who is a keen musician and sound recordist. All are in the project gallery.
How the build works
- Site visit and estimate. We come to your garden, talk through how you want to use the space, and give you a written estimate.
- Design. We draw up the building around your garden, your budget and any planning constraints.
- Groundwork and base. Foundations suited to your ground conditions and access.
- Structure and cladding. Frame, insulation, roofing, windows, doors and cladding.
- First and second fix. Electrics, lighting, internal finishes and decoration.
- Snagging and handover. We walk the finished build with you and put right anything that is not right.
Planning permission for a garden building
Most garden rooms and garden offices in South London are built under permitted development, which means no planning application is needed. The usual conditions are that the building sits behind the front of your house, covers no more than half your garden, stays single storey, and keeps to a maximum height of 2.5 metres where it is within two metres of a boundary.
There are exceptions. Parts of Dulwich, Herne Hill and Camberwell fall inside conservation areas, and listed buildings have their own rules. We check this with you at the site visit, and if an application is needed we will tell you before you commit to anything.
Always confirm your own situation with Southwark, Lambeth or your local planning authority. We can point you at the right department.
Specialist garden rooms
See our dedicated pages for garden offices, garden art studios, garden yoga studios and garden sheds.
Book a free site visit
Every CanaCabins build starts with a visit to your garden. We look at access, ground conditions, boundaries and how you want to use the space, then give you an honest estimate with no obligation.
We build across East Dulwich, Dulwich, Peckham, Nunhead, Herne Hill, Camberwell, Forest Hill, Tulse Hill, Brixton, Honor Oak and Crystal Palace.