Many contractors may be transforming their garages and lofts into offices, after one expert said that conversion is set to be a big trend in 2011.

Stefan Zachary, founder of Zachary Design, noted that one trend is to use garages for any purpose other than that they were designed for.

He added that the rise in conversion reflects an increase in the popularity of home working due to the internet.

"Any city in Britain is full of empty office space now - I think a lot of the people who used to work in offices and travel into work are now working from home," he explained.

This comes after Martin Lyne, director of SME marketing at T-Mobile, said that leaders of business no longer believe in the nine-to-five working day, preferring to adopt flexible hours.

Research by the phone company found that half of business leaders said they no longer thought the traditional working day was the best way to go.