Boxing clever: the freight estate
August 1, 2005 - 1:23PM
Imagine if the top floor of your home had been to China, the west wing spent time in Dubai and the bathroom did a stint in the UK.
Sure, the outside looks like shipping containers, but that's because they are.
Royal Wolf Trading today unveiled its latest prototype for temporary accommodation made from containers.
Dubbed the Blue Room, the three-bedroom, two-storey house is made from four converted shipping containers held together with heavy chains.
Its interior features insulated walls, windows, plumbing, electricity, and a septic tank, and boasts features real-estate agents love to reel off - stainless steel appliances, wooden floorboards, reverse-cycle air-conditioning and deluxe bathrooms.
The containers can be pulled apart and trucked or shipped away in two days.
Converted shipping containers have been used in the past as accommodation and office space, including as student accommodation in Amsterdam and in London's Trinity Buoy Wharf area.
Royal Wolf Trading general manager Bob Allan said the company had for the past 10 years been buying up decade-old shipping containers that had travelled the world for use in the homes.
It has come up with several variations on the live-in container, from an $11,000 six-metre unit with bed, kitchen and bathroom, right up to the $140,000 four-container Blue Room complex.
The Blue Room is aimed at artists wanting to set up temporarily but Royal Wolf is also targeting local councils, universities and the mining and construction industries.
AAP
I bet if they collect enough buttons and old cans they'll have the down payment.