Houzz Tours
Room Tours
London Room Tour
Room of the Week: An Award-winning Shed Makes a Peaceful City Haven
The 2014 Shed of the Year is a sustainable green oasis amid London’s urban whirl
Joel Bird is a veritable Renaissance man. The active carpenter, painter, musician and sculptor juggles a variety of creative projects while simultaneously managing to carve out a small but multifunctional oasis for himself in the busy capital. When he first started working on his ecofriendly garden shed four years ago, it was the first time he had ever built a structure of this kind. ‘It was like an experiment, really,’ he says. He’d finished renovating the house he’d bought in Tottenham, north London, and wanted to create a serene and functional work space in the garden in which he could develop his music production and painting.
Joel designed the shed to be multifunctional and as sustainable as possible. ‘I needed a work space, and I also wanted an allotment, so I just designed the shed so I could have a garden on the roof.’ Over the past four years, the roof garden has become more and more elaborate, with an added raised bed for vegetables, solar panels and an efficient drainage system boosting the structure’s self-sufficiency.
Sustainability was a natural part of Joel’s upbringing. He and his family were keen bird watchers, and the constant closeness to nature helped him appreciate it all the more. ‘I like to be around nature,’ he says, ‘you work better, you see better, you draw better.’
Joel enjoys the cosiness and functionality of his shed, but he wasn’t necessarily prepared for the publicity it began to receive this year. After appearing on George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces on Channel 4 and winning the show’s Shed of the Year competition, he was suddenly flooded with requests for sheds like his. ‘After the TV show, I was getting lots and lots of calls, and I had to employ a couple of people to help,’ he explains. ‘Now it’s a business.’ As he gears up to explore some architectural projects next year, Joel insists that environmentally friendly builds will remain a feature of his future creations.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here Joel Bird of The Shed Builder
Location Tottenham, north London
Year built 2010
Size 2 rooms
Joel designed the shed to be multifunctional and as sustainable as possible. ‘I needed a work space, and I also wanted an allotment, so I just designed the shed so I could have a garden on the roof.’ Over the past four years, the roof garden has become more and more elaborate, with an added raised bed for vegetables, solar panels and an efficient drainage system boosting the structure’s self-sufficiency.
Sustainability was a natural part of Joel’s upbringing. He and his family were keen bird watchers, and the constant closeness to nature helped him appreciate it all the more. ‘I like to be around nature,’ he says, ‘you work better, you see better, you draw better.’
Joel enjoys the cosiness and functionality of his shed, but he wasn’t necessarily prepared for the publicity it began to receive this year. After appearing on George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces on Channel 4 and winning the show’s Shed of the Year competition, he was suddenly flooded with requests for sheds like his. ‘After the TV show, I was getting lots and lots of calls, and I had to employ a couple of people to help,’ he explains. ‘Now it’s a business.’ As he gears up to explore some architectural projects next year, Joel insists that environmentally friendly builds will remain a feature of his future creations.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here Joel Bird of The Shed Builder
Location Tottenham, north London
Year built 2010
Size 2 rooms
‘I genuinely spend more time in the shed than in the house,’ Joel says. After seeing many friends struggle to continue their creative pursuits due to London’s high rents, Joel, who is from Liverpool, knew he needed to find a more economical work space. ‘I knew I had to try to create a cheaper lifestyle,’ he explains. The shed has thus become a home office, recording studio, art studio and urban oasis in one.
The shed is a triumph of recycling. While Joel purchased the main structure from a builder’s yard, he also used many materials left over from renovating his house. ‘The windows and doors were taken from the house,’ he says, ‘and a lot of the cladding was recycled fencing.’ He also used soil from his garden to create the allotment on the roof.
The entrance to the shed proudly displays Joel’s Shed of the Year 2014 winner’s plaques. More than 2,000 entries were recorded for this year’s competition.
The front room has been turned into Joel’s art studio, where he paints and sculpts. Solar panels on the roof power a couple of car batteries, which he uses to light the studio.
Joel’s little wood-burning stove is powerful enough to keep the inside of the shed toasty in the winter. ‘Wood burners are surprisingly strong,’ he says. ‘Sometimes they get too hot, so I use a little one.’
Joel lights the stove with wood left over from the house renovation. He also picks up the offcuts from working on other people’s sheds.
Although the shed is only 10 steps from the house, he does use the stove to make tea and cook small meals. He also uses a lot of the vegetables from his roof. ‘It’s nice to sit right next to the veg and be able to just pick them,’ he says.
Wood-burning stove, eBay.
Joel lights the stove with wood left over from the house renovation. He also picks up the offcuts from working on other people’s sheds.
Although the shed is only 10 steps from the house, he does use the stove to make tea and cook small meals. He also uses a lot of the vegetables from his roof. ‘It’s nice to sit right next to the veg and be able to just pick them,’ he says.
Wood-burning stove, eBay.
Joel’s Shed of the Year 2014 award sits proudly on his shelf in the art studio. ‘Entering the competition was originally just a bit of fun. But then it seemed to escalate and get bigger and bigger, and then they said it was going to be a TV series and asked if they could come and film,’ he recalls. Nonetheless, Joel says the filming process was enjoyable for him. ‘The whole thing was just nice,’ he says. ‘It was nice to meet everyone.’
The art studio at the front leads into the recording studio in the second room at the back.
Joel soundproofed the music studio walls with soundboards. However, he says, ‘the soil on the roof is a really good sound and heat insulator. It was a win-win situation.’
Unfortunately, the solar panels are not enough to power the equipment in the music studio, since they can only generate about 12 volts, more than enough for general lighting, but not sufficient for more demanding music-editing programs.
Joel says the first instrument he ever learned to play was the saxophone. ‘Inevitably, you have to learn the piano,’ he adds, ‘and I used to play the guitar and sing.’ He does live performances ‘every so often’, and tries to release a record ‘every couple of years’.
Unfortunately, the solar panels are not enough to power the equipment in the music studio, since they can only generate about 12 volts, more than enough for general lighting, but not sufficient for more demanding music-editing programs.
Joel says the first instrument he ever learned to play was the saxophone. ‘Inevitably, you have to learn the piano,’ he adds, ‘and I used to play the guitar and sing.’ He does live performances ‘every so often’, and tries to release a record ‘every couple of years’.
The roof garden can be accessed from the wooden stairs on the front left side of the shed.
Joel’s rooftop garden now has healthy crops of various seasonal vegetables. ‘The tomatoes were great this year – I had them every day,’ he says.
Joel’s rooftop garden now has healthy crops of various seasonal vegetables. ‘The tomatoes were great this year – I had them every day,’ he says.
The entire surface area of the roof is about 15 sq m. ‘There’s also a bike station around the back where I repair my bike,’Joel says.
‘The majority of the structure is simple in principle,’ he says. ‘You just have to make sure it’s structurally sound and waterproof.’ He made the shed watertight using felt, which works as a waterproof membrane.
He adds that the roof joists on the shed had to be tighter than usual in order to support the weight of the garden.
Browse 10 clever ideas for small gardens
‘The majority of the structure is simple in principle,’ he says. ‘You just have to make sure it’s structurally sound and waterproof.’ He made the shed watertight using felt, which works as a waterproof membrane.
He adds that the roof joists on the shed had to be tighter than usual in order to support the weight of the garden.
Browse 10 clever ideas for small gardens
Joel also incorporated an efficient drainage and watering system. ‘The water comes off the roof into a channel and then goes into a downpipe, which waters plants on the way down,’ he explains. It’s then collected in a water butt.
The plants under the pipe are in Gro-bags held upright in a frame, and he changes them all the time. At the moment, he has rosemary, jasmine and thyme in there, as well as some ivy ‘to make it more green’.
The plants under the pipe are in Gro-bags held upright in a frame, and he changes them all the time. At the moment, he has rosemary, jasmine and thyme in there, as well as some ivy ‘to make it more green’.
The terracotta hands on the wall initially seem to suggest some sort of symbolic message, but, Joel says, ‘it’s nothing like that. They were here when I bought the house.’ They had belonged to the previous owner, an elderly man, and Joel wished to keep some of his things in homage to him. ‘I liked him – I thought he was nice,’ he says. So he incorporated some of the home’s original spirit into his new shed.
In addition to tomatoes, Joel has been growing corn, potatoes, strawberries, onions, chillies, broccoli, courgettes, blueberries and blackberries. He also set up a herb garden, which lasts him all year. ‘The herbs are really hardy,’ he says.
Joel says many of his homegrown produce, such as the tomatoes and corn, are much better than supermarket buys. ‘It’s a bit surprising how easy it is to grow them,’ he says.
The various ceramic birds found around the shed are also Joel’s creations.
Joel says many of his homegrown produce, such as the tomatoes and corn, are much better than supermarket buys. ‘It’s a bit surprising how easy it is to grow them,’ he says.
The various ceramic birds found around the shed are also Joel’s creations.
When choosing which fruits and vegetables to plant, Joel simply experimented to see what worked best. ‘In the end, I chose stuff that was nicer than in the supermarket,’ he says. He began planting potatoes in order to single-handedly grow the ingredients for a typical ‘scouse’, the classic Liverpudlian meat stew. Soon he was steadily expanding his repertoire.
So far, Joel hasn’t had to do much maintenance. He only has to ensure he consistently maintains the allotment and plants the seedlings every year.
‘I try to let the plants on the roof overgrow sometimes,’ he says. ‘There are wild flowers up there, because I’m trying to attract bees. It makes your life easier as well,’ he adds, since the bees contribute to the pollinating process.
Learn how to build a raised bed in your garden
So far, Joel hasn’t had to do much maintenance. He only has to ensure he consistently maintains the allotment and plants the seedlings every year.
‘I try to let the plants on the roof overgrow sometimes,’ he says. ‘There are wild flowers up there, because I’m trying to attract bees. It makes your life easier as well,’ he adds, since the bees contribute to the pollinating process.
Learn how to build a raised bed in your garden
Joel repurposed an old drainpipe to grow alpines, while still ensuring the drainage could pass water on to other parts of the shed. ‘There’s loads of gravel in the soil, so the water just flows through,’ he explains.
All in all, Joel’s shed cost him about £500 to make, and the rewards are plentiful, particularly in the summer months, when he can be found soaking up the sun in his tin tub. With fresh vegetables and fruits, as well as his studio spaces, the shed provides a welcome and sustainable escape from busy city life.
My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. If you would like your home to be featured, please send information and photos to ukeditor@houzz.com.