Garden staircases
Garden staircases: straight, spiral, curved and split-level.
Outdoor staircases are shaped by the ground more than the house. The rise, the room you have to land it, how the route should feel. These are the four types we design and build, and how we choose between them.
Staircase types
Straight garden staircases
One flight, the simplest and most economical. Suits a terrace or deck up to about 1.5 metres above the lawn. Steel stringers with chequer-plate treads; open risers keep it light, closed risers hide the ground behind.
Spiral staircases
For a first-floor terrace, a balcony or a roof garden with little ground below. A 1.6-metre diameter spiral takes a rise of three metres in a footprint of two square metres. Professionally painted, with perforated or chequer-plate treads for grip.
Curved and helical staircases
Where the staircase is a feature rather than a fix. A gentle sweep down to a lawn or pool terrace, with a continuous handrail. Fabricated in sections and assembled on site.
Split-level and dog-leg
Steep or long slopes need landings. Two or three shorter flights with landings between let you pause, turn, and place planting or lighting along the way. Often combined with short retaining walls in matching steel.
Design details
The parts you'll notice every day.
- Rise and going. Outdoor steps are more comfortable a little shallower than indoor ones. We aim for a rise around 150 to 170 mm and a going of 280 mm or more, and keep every step identical.
- Treads. Chequer plate or perforated steel as standard. Oak, stone or porcelain treads supplied by others can be set in steel trays to continue a terrace.
- Balustrades and handrails. Vertical bar, horizontal rail, mesh or glass. Heights of 900 to 1,100 mm where there's a drop, and a handrail wherever there are more than a couple of steps.
- Lighting. Low-voltage LEDs recessed into risers or under nosings, so the staircase is usable and safe after dark without a floodlight.
- Drawings. Every staircase is drawn from a 3D laser site survey and issued for your approval before fabrication. Structural calculations can be provided.
- Foundations. Concrete pads or ground screws depending on the soil, hidden by the landing or the planting.
Planning and building rules
Do you need permission?
It depends mostly on height. The government's permitted development guidance doesn't deal with steps on their own, but a platform or landing more than 0.3 m above the ground can count as a raised platform, and those need planning permission. Flats and maisonettes, listed buildings, conservation areas and Article 4 areas have tighter rules. We check this during the survey and tell you plainly if an application is needed. The council makes the decision, and a Lawful Development Certificate gives you certainty.
Whether or not planning applies, we design to the parts of Approved Document K that keep outdoor steps safe: even risers, a decent going, handrails, and balustrade heights that suit the drop. Every staircase is built to be safe to use in all weathers, and the quality of the build, from the welds and fixings to the paint, is what keeps it that way for years.
Guides
Recent guides
- Steps from a kitchen extension to the garden: options, costs and lead times
How to measure the drop, plan the landing and steps, check the rules with your council, and what steel steps cost and how long they take.
- Do garden stairs need planning permission? The rules in England
When steps and landings fall under householder permitted development, when they don't, and how to get a firm answer from your council before work starts.
Ready when you are
Fill in the form today. Fitted in as little as a week.
We survey for free, send drawings for your approval and fix the price before we start. Your staircase is then built to suit your site, professionally spray painted in our workshop and put in by our own fitting team.
- Reply on the working day your enquiry arrives
- Free site survey, usually within 48 hours
- Fixed price before anything is made
- 18 years' experience
Prefer to talk? 07861 932888
Get your quote today
Tell us what you need and roughly how high. Every enquiry gets an answer on the working day it arrives.
Survey, drawings, fixed price, then fitted in as little as 7 days