As mentioned in my other post we're building a large 60 sq.m garage for use for our motorsports hobby. Our worry is that this is quite big and may not add value to the house or even some people have said it could devalue the house because a future owner wouldn't even know what to do with it. The average garage is less than 20 sq.m and a double garage is less than 30 sq.m so it is quite big.
We have a large garden and 60 sq.m will take up approx 1/3 of the garden still leaving as garden space as the average terraced house around London anyway.
We are going for a tiled pitched roof and the wall facing the house will be brick to make it look good. We've had some architects input to add some pretty details, so it will look good.
One thought was that maybe, in the future it could be upgraded to something more than a garage, hence adding value. But what could it be upgraded to? A summer house? Extra habitable space? Is that realistic?
We've mentioned this to the council and they said that from a building regs perspective it's simple. That the walls could be insulated even if they are single skin block. That we should build the foundation even under the door but aside from that they can't think of what else to provision for an upgrade in the future.
We've considered a cavity wall because it's more solid. But if we insulate the wall and put insulation under the concrete floor, what if the building regs requirements for heat retention change and the walls/floor need upgrading anyway?
So really my questions are:
1. What could such a space be used for by an average family?
2. Is it realistic to get planning permission to make it habitable in the future?
3. Any building requirements that we should provision for the upgrade?
I don't see any such upgrade happening for the next 5 to 20 years if ever though.
We have a large garden and 60 sq.m will take up approx 1/3 of the garden still leaving as garden space as the average terraced house around London anyway.
We are going for a tiled pitched roof and the wall facing the house will be brick to make it look good. We've had some architects input to add some pretty details, so it will look good.
One thought was that maybe, in the future it could be upgraded to something more than a garage, hence adding value. But what could it be upgraded to? A summer house? Extra habitable space? Is that realistic?
We've mentioned this to the council and they said that from a building regs perspective it's simple. That the walls could be insulated even if they are single skin block. That we should build the foundation even under the door but aside from that they can't think of what else to provision for an upgrade in the future.
We've considered a cavity wall because it's more solid. But if we insulate the wall and put insulation under the concrete floor, what if the building regs requirements for heat retention change and the walls/floor need upgrading anyway?
So really my questions are:
1. What could such a space be used for by an average family?
2. Is it realistic to get planning permission to make it habitable in the future?
3. Any building requirements that we should provision for the upgrade?
I don't see any such upgrade happening for the next 5 to 20 years if ever though.
