Britain | Working from home

How the spread of sheds threatens cities

Small buildings with big implications

George Bernard Shed

ACROSS THE gardens of Britain, in cities and suburbs, people are building sheds. “We have never seen such an increase in orders,” says Paul Deary of the Garden Shed Company, whose family has been in the business for 35 years. “People have gone shed crazy.” The Timber Trade Federation reports that in October, the last month for which statistics are available, imports of softwood were 34% higher than a year earlier. With stocks running low, what wood is available is quickly snapped up.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Spread of the shed”

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