Irish Times: Garden Room Feature Highlights Sprout Pod's Expanding Use Cases

Alison Healy's feature in the Irish Times property section in April 2026 took a deliberately wide view of the garden room category — profiling not just home offices and gyms but the full range of personal spaces people are now creating at the end of their gardens. A garden pub complete with Americana memorabilia. A converted space combining sewing, drawing and antique restoration. A photography studio purpose-built for a professional photographer. The piece used Sprout Pod as the primary commercial voice.

Dundalk-based and in demand

The Irish Times identified Sprout Pod as a Dundalk-based supplier experiencing consistent high demand — a demand the article characterised as driven by the search for cost-effective additional living solutions as much as lifestyle aspirations. The combination of rising house prices making extensions expensive and a general desire for a dedicated, separate space has broadened the market well beyond the original home-office use case.

The expanding brief

The piece quoted Ciarán Kerr on the range of uses the company now regularly builds for — home offices remaining a constant, alongside gyms and garden rooms, but extending to therapy rooms, sensory spaces for children with autism, music studios, glamping accommodation, and weightlifting facilities. The unifying factor across all of these is the requirement for a permanent, insulated, structurally sound building: a garden shed is not a therapy room.

Pricing and specification

The Irish Times article noted the current Sprout Pod price range: a basic 3m × 2m home office from €11,000, with the largest configuration — a 42sqm unit with two bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, and living room — from €75,000. The article also noted that A-standard Building Energy Ratings are achievable with the addition of solar panels and smart radiators.

The 25sqm planning threshold

The piece touched on planning, noting that structures under 25 square metres in Ireland do not require planning permission, with this threshold expected to increase under proposed government changes. For buyers considering a larger habitable unit, the article reflected the current position: any structure intended for regular human occupancy and exceeding the exempt threshold will require a planning application.