Shipping Containers Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Shipping Container Conversions’

A shipping container made into a helicopter?   Surely that has to be one of the most amazing shipping container conversions ever?   If it is true?   We are currently arguing within the office whether this is a spoof or not and if any of you have any ideas after watching the You Tube video embedded here we would grateful for your input.   Is this really a genuine use of a used shipping container or not?

Whatever your thoughts, it is certainly a great video to watch.   Long live shipping containers!!

SHIPPING CONTAINERS ARE USED AS CLASSROOMS IN AFRICA
CS Shipping Containers are supplying Computers 4 Africa with shipping containers that can be converted into classrooms equipped with computers to give IT skills to people in Africa.  Sharon Roberts from Computers 4 Africa said “We are delighted to have this opportunity to be working with CS Shipping Containers”.

CLASSROOM IN A CONTAINER
A major fund-raising campaign has seen over 18 shipping containers being delivered in the last fortnight to the Computers 4 Africa bases in Sheffield and Scotland where they will be converted into classrooms. The second hand shipping containers are a mixture of 20ft and 40ft sizes and will have desks fitted with donated computers, laptops and IT equipment.   The corten steel construction of a shipping container means that they are ideal for classrooms as they are strong and secure as well as weatherproof – and, of course, shipping containers can be cheaply shipped and easily transported on by road.

Shippng Containers Housing Computers 4 Africa

Shipping Container Conversions are extremely varied and in this case unusual as a 20ft shipping container was converted to train people how to deal with crawling through dark and confined spaces.   Catalis are running a course to train individuals working for institutions such as the Water Board to deal with the conditions that they would experience in say, entering the sewage system or large water pipes in cases of emergency or maintenance.

Contained Space Container

The converted container made from a new/once used container is sited at Wandsworth near to the railway where Catalis holds its training sessions.   As the course progresses, the trainees are lowered, via a winch, from the roof  into the tunnel system within the container.  The dark and confined space gives realistic training and can accommodate the use of additional aids such as breathing apparatus.

Winch to lower down trainees into the 20ft container

Shipping Containers with their strong corten steel construction lend themselves to many different - and often bespoke - conversions.   Contained, or as they are sometimes known, Confined Space Containers have multiple applications and are often utilised by the fire brigade, oil companies, submariners and even bomb disposal teams as part of their training regime.   The system of tunnels within the container can replicate or be designed individually for the customer’s needs.

Schools often have  a tight budget and shipping containers can prove to be an economic solution.  The fact that shipping containers are made from strong, weather resistant corten steel make them ideal for a number of purposes.   Add to this that they are by their very construction extremely strong and secure, as well as easily transportable they are ideally suited for the school environment.

The eight most popular uses for shipping containers in Schools are:-

1. Providing additional storage for items such as chairs, sports equipment etc in all sizes from 10ft to 40ft
2. Shipping Container Conversions can make great classrooms at about a third of the cost of traditional buiding methods
3. Changing rooms can be made from 20ft containers and sited next to the sports field
4. Cycle stores made from used containers
5. Insulated shipping containers are often used to house musical instruments and additional computer equipment
6. Recycling/rubbish collection areas
7. After school clubs/common rooms can be made as a shipping container conversion and are frequently sited in the school car parking area
8. Chemical stores made from 10ft shipping containers

There are, of course, special considerations to be taken into account when buying and siting a shipping container in school grounds.   Not least of these is the need for health and safety which is why it is often worth asking the supplier of the container to deliver it at a time to suit the school timetable.   Most will be able to offer time slots early in the morning before the students arrive or whilst lessons are going on.  

20ft shipping container conversion

There has been a rise in the number of people that use shipping containers to make houses and other community buildings.   Architects have started designing more projects that rely on shipping container conversions for prestigious sites.

But why should you choose a shipping container as the basis for your building?

1. Shipping Containers are readily available with over a million being released by shipping lines each year
2. They are ecologically friendly - you would be giving something that is essentially an industrial waste product a new lease of life
3. Shipping containers are weather resistant being made out of corten steel and having water resistant seams and 27mm marine plywood floors
4. They can be quickly assembled on site
5. 20ft and 40ft shipping containers can be combined to make larger units quickly and easily
6. They are structurally very strong - shipping containers are used to support concrete bridges in states such as Utah
7. Shipping Container conversions can used other recycled materials such as windows and doors
8. The containers have a good fire resistance rating
9. The fact that containers are designed for transportation means that they are easy to get onto most sites
10. On average a shipping container home is 20-50% cheaper than a conventional construction project

In our next post we will look at some shipping container building projects to see just how well containers can be converted and how visually appealing they can be.

What can Shipping Containers do that can help with the flooding? 

The floods in Cumbria have meant that many peoples’ homes and businesses are under water.   Whilst the situation is still ongoing there is nothing they can do about their possessions but when the rivers eventually subside and repair work is carried out to their property shipping containers are ideal for emergency container storage for their possessions.   Guaranteed to be wind and watertight, shipping containers are designed to withstand marine conditions and so are ideal for secure storage.  Businesses can hire shipping container conversions in the form of site offices and site accommodation so that they can carry on working.

Many other countries use shipping containers for emergency accommodation and storage.   The Red Cross made use of 20ft containers during Hurricane Katrina both as stores and mobile first aid units.   Australia and New Zealand have regularly used Shipping Containers to provide shelter in remote areas.   The list goes on.   The fact is that the extemely robust nature of shipping containers and the fact that they are designed to be easily transported by air, road, sea or rail makes them ideal for many emergency situations.  

As the rain is due again this weekend, the news will focus on all those effected and we can only hope that there is as little damage to life and property as possible.   In the clear up that follows let us all hope that whatever help is needed is quickly offered - Shipping Containers will no doubt play their part.

Apparently the shipping container came about due to the fact that an American trucker, Malcolm McLean, whilst queuing at Jersey City Pier in 1937, realised that it would be quicker to have the whole truck body lifted onto the ship.   18 years later, he decided on the strength of that light-bulb moment, he bought a war-surplus tanker and equipped it to carry 33 ft containers.

In truth, ship lines and railways had been experimenting with containers for over half a century before 1937 but it took someone with the insight of McLean to realise that the real issue was making the transportation of cargo inter-modal - ie in a standard sized container that could move between rail, road and sea transport without the need for lots of manpower and many different sized machines.  The standard sized shipping containers meant that the prices of moving goods could be brought down and as a result the cost of many things became more affordable - and more varied - to the customer.

Today, the standard sizes of shipping containers are 40ft and 20ft containers.   There are other sizes available such as 8ft and 10ft but these are less common and often more expensive to transport - particularly by sea. 

Many ports were developed as a result of shipping containers - such as Felixstowe in Suffolk - able to take advantage of cheap land and good transport links.   Nowadays one-and-a-half million 40ft containers arrive at ports throughout the world each week.

One of the by products of this amount of containers is the market for second hand used containers.   The excess containers at ports are used for domestic storage, shipping container conversions such as offices and accommodation - even for housing data centres.

Whether or not there is any truth in Malcolm McLean’s “eureka” moment it certainly has had a big impact on all our lives.

This shipping container conversion project was to consist of 7 second hand 20ft containers joined together to make a large “community centre” in Chiswick.

It is perhaps easiest to think of shipping containers as pieces of lego that can have sides removed and be welded together in order to make a larger building.   When planning this there are several points to bear in mind, not least of which is to balance up using new shipping containers over used containers.   Whilst second hand containers have the advantage of being more ecologically friendly, it is often more difficult and therefore more expensive, to find a large number have the same specifcation.  Essentially what this actually means is that they are built so that the top rails and floor bearers match and so can be married up successfully so that there are no obvious joins.  In new containers, this is not a problem because they tend to be all shipped together in a batch and therefore have identical build specification.

multi-container-build

There are many types of shipping container conversions.   Shipping Containers themselves, whether new or second hand containers, lend themselves to many projects large or small.  Their shape, and the fact that they are made of weather resistant corten steel, mean that they are very versatile and can be built up in blocks to many different configurations.    But how do you start planning such a project?

At the beginning of this year CS Shipping Containers were contacted by Chiswick Horticultural Association to quote - and then to build - a community centre which would be made out of seven second hand 20ft shipping containers.   It was to consist of a large open plan space with seperate areas for a kitchen and toilets.

But how do you go from a bare site, then groundworks as pictured above to having a completed project?

This series of posts will follow the progress of the project from when we received the order, the conversion of the individual units at the fabrication plant where the insulation, lighting and heating, toilets and kitchen were put into the shipping containers, the delivery and craning of the units onto the site, and the assembly itself.

For those planning multi-container conversions, this should give a better idea of what is involved.  They will compare the merits of using new shipping containers to used shipping containers, the ways in which containers can be got onto a site with restricted access, as well as general points to consider when planning a conversion.

Depending on what is to be stored in the containers the shipping container can be adapted specifically for purpose.   For example, should the chemicals be in easily handled, the chemical store can have the cheaper option of a bunded floor.  However, should the chemicals/hazardous goods be in large barrels then a sub floor sump can be put in.   There is the option of metal shelving, additonal insulation and ventilation - all of which can be put in according to the specific requirements.  Sizes range from 8ft to 40ft.

The addition of a lock cowl or lock box, together with a heavy duty, high security padlock makes the chemical store/agricultural store extremely safe from non-authorised access.   This gives flexibility as to where the store is to be sited.

chemical store with sump

chemical store with bund