Shipping Containers - An Unlikely Sporting Hero
Many Shipping Container Conversions are based around finding additional space for sport. Be it for storing equipment, for clubhouses or for changing rooms the versatile nature of the shipping container and the fact that it can be easily transported - and quickly assembled - on site means that it is ideal for a variety of problems that may face either the individual, team, club or school.
The most simple of conversions is that of sports storage. Often this involves nothing more than fitting out the container with shelves or racks to hold the equipment for the particular sport involved. This make take the form of bicycle racks, canoe/boat racks or shelves for PE kit with cupboards underneath for balls, nets etc. Containers have also been fitted with ramps so that they can be used to store specialist wheelchairs. The real advantage that having the storage within a container is the fact that it can be placed easily on sleepers - or a concrete pad - on the side of the sports fields, by the river/lake and still provide secure, self sufficient storage. Of course these storage container conversions can also be tailored further to include lighting and heating, and often include a side personnel door for ease of access.
But storage is only the beginning of what a shipping container can be used for in the sporting world. Changing rooms and clubhouses are also very popular conversions. A number of shipping containers - 20ft or 40ft containers - can be joined together in various formations to allow for multiple changing rooms -with shower/toilet facilities - as well as kitchens, rooms for referees and match officials and even meeting rooms. The advantage of using shipping containers in this particular application over the more traditonal construction methods is the speed of which they can be assembled on site. Even allowing for insulation, lighting, heating, plumbing and the assembly of the containers, these conversions can often be assembled in one day, and at a third of the cost.
What is important if you are thinking of a major conversion such as a clubhouse is that you carefully consider the layout of the containers. Most shipping container companies should be able to advise you - and even produce CAD drawings - for you to consider.
Mind you, while we are on the topic of shipping containers, I did mention in a previous article the use of shipping container walls as an easy way of producing a windbreak, or as quickly assembled stands in the formation of a sporting stadium. We have even featured a shipping container converted into a self container pool and used for swimming or surfing against a mechanically induced current.

Next time you see a shipping container on a road, a train or even a ship, don’t just think of them as a means of taking goods cheaply from A to B, but think of them as a possibility in helping sportsmen and women train and maybe as a helping hand in Britain’s preparation for the 2012 Olympics.
Shipping Container Conversions - Stacking Containers

Side StairsStairs linking two containers

wood and metal container staircase
























