Cost/difficulty of moving a shed and concrete base.

Indigo_and_Violet

Our new flat has a nice long (for London) garden and a large shed. The shed was previously used as a pottery studio and our plan is to convert it into a garden study. 
There is currently about 2m of patio behind the shed (see plan below). We were going to make this our rain butt/compost heap area, but the garden is NW facing so sun is precious and this spot would get some great light...if it weren't shaded by the shed. We are wondering about moving the shed back to the fence and so gaining a bit more garden. 
However, it's a bit complicated because there are level changes and a concrete base to contend with (see photo). To move the shed we would need to
- Remove old paving and level off (we could probably manage this)
- Extend concrete base back towards fence (would need a contractor)
- Move shed back to fence (seems like we could do ourselves, although shed might not survive).
- Potentially remove old concrete at front of shed, but I'd be happy to leave this as space for planters if easier. 

We are also a flat so PD doesn't apply so I've got to do a bit of digging into planning regs. I don't think the issue is that it's more than 2.5m tall because it goes right up to the boundary on the left, but I'll double check the height  There is a 'gully' of about 1m between our fence and the fence for the gardens behind us so the shed shouldn't shade the back neighbours even if taken to right to the fence. 

My questions would be:
- Any idea roughly how much this might cost? There is no side access to the back garden so everything would need to come through the flat, but we're pretty relaxed about that. 
- Is it sensible to plan to move the old shed or should we just plan to replace it from the beginning (it's old but otherwise in good nick and were it not stealing that bit of garden at the back we'd be very happy just to renovate it). 

David713

I've tried to move an old shed before and although it wasn't in bad nick, it didn't take too kindly to getting moved and I ended up with quite a few split and warped pieces and it was never quite the same again.

On the bottom photo, the fence shown has concrete posts and the fence itself looks to be in fairly good condition so depending on what is on the other side and if you can get permission from whomever lives there or owns the land, would lifting one of the panels (they are generally fairly easy to remove) help with regards to getting access for getting a new shed in and possibly the old one out?

Niv

First thing i would be thinking about is why wasn't it put there in the first place. 

If you do go ahead with it, I would look into moving the shed round 90degrees.

Indigo_and_Violet

David713 said:

On the bottom photo, the fence shown has concrete posts and the fence itself looks to be in fairly good condition so depending on what is on the other side and if you can get permission from whomever lives there or owns the land, would lifting one of the panels (they are generally fairly easy to remove) help with regards to getting access for getting a new shed in and possibly the old one out?

Beyond that fence (our fence) there is a no-mans land of about 1m (can't see access at either end) then another fence for the garden behind. So, to come through the back would mean taking out a panel of our fence and the back neighbours fence and bringing stuff through their flat instead of ours.
It's possible there might be access to the no-mans land/gully from the car park about 20m to the right, but it's narrow so you wouldn't be able to bring any machinery in and it'd be tough to manoeuvre large bits of wood. 
Our right-hand neighbours do have an alleyway to their garden so we could ask them if we could remove a fence panel on their side and use for access, but we've not met them yet. 
I'd got the sense from previous threads that sheds didn't like to be moved. Bringing in a new shed obviously ups the cost and makes planning more complicated. We'll have to have a think about how much that strip of garden is worth to us!

Indigo_and_Violet

Niv said:

First thing i would be thinking about is why wasn't it put there in the first place. 
If you do go ahead with it, I would look into moving the shed round 90degrees.

First bit is tricky. Our seller was eccentric so it's possible there's a very sensible and rational reason for its placement but equally possible there is not.
Benefit of the current orientation is that there are windows facing back towards the house. 

Apodemus

I wonder if  the shed is/was against the back fence of the property and that the lane originally continued along where the slightly raised bit is?  The fence has subsequently been moved back into the lane, giving the odd arrangement of "no man's land" and adjacent lane that you describe.