Shipping Containers

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BELOW ARE VARIOUS ARTICLES WE HAVE FOUND ABOUT SHIPPING CONTAINERS AND THEIR USE SOME VERY INTERESTING READING.

NEWS RELEASES ABOUT CONTAINERS:

Friday, 10 May, 2002, 14:42 GMT 15:42 UK

The government plans to build thousands of pre-fabricated houses in the capital so public sector workers are not forced to leave London because of rising house prices.

The container homes could be put up on spare land in city centres, said James Pichard of architects Cartwright Pickard.

"We cannot actually meet the housing demand in London if we try and build houses as we have done in the past," he said.

"There has to be change and innovation if we want to improve the quality of people's homes and build them faster and more cheaply."

Living in a container

Author: Cameron Houston
Date: July 7, 2008
Publication: The Age (subscribe)
 

A radical plan to solve Victoria's housing affordability crisis by putting shipping containers in caravan parks has infuriated social welfare organisations.

Macroplan Australia managing director and prominent urban planner Brian Haratsis said shipping containers could be located on public land or in caravan parks, providing cheaper housing for those locked out of the property market.

"There will be a lot of talk about trailer trash, but people don't seem to understand there are others who simply can't afford accommodation and we urgently need to find an alternative," Mr Haratsis said. "Many social welfare groups don't seem to understand basic economics, or that if you don't have any shelter you're sleeping in the rain."

The 12-metre steel boxes cost about $3500 but Mr Haratsis said the technology to transform them into homes would need to be significantly improved for them to compete with other relocatable housing.

The proposal comes less than a week after bleak warnings from the Housing Industry Association that Australia faces an undersupply of 1 million homes over the next five years.

Victorian Council of Social Service spokesman David Imber said the plan would lead to urban ghettos and entrench poverty. "There is real concern that shipping containers, even if they are well designed, would lead to a concentration of disadvantage," he said. "When most people think of the shipping containers, they think of people smuggling or asylum seekers."

Mr Imber said the proposal ignored the structural and social issues associated with declining housing affordability.

Torquay architect Geoffrey Fulton, well advanced with plans to convert containers into houses and who has entered a partnership with a Geelong steel fabricator to boost production, said a dwelling made from containers would be up to 50% cheaper than a conventional house.

Melbourne architect Sean Godsell, who designed a temporary home from a container now on show in New York's Museum of Modern Art, said they were not suitable for permanent homes.

But artist Madeleine McCristal, building her dream home from 12 containers, said projects such as hers were "fantastic environmentally".

Queensland Police living in shipping containers

Shipping containers, complete with air conditioning, en suites and stainless steel kitchens, will become homes for police overseeing an alcohol ban in a central Queensland Aboriginal community.

Police Minister Judy Spence told state parliament today the shipping containers would be used as short-term housing for extra police sent to Woorabinda because of a shortage of suitable accommodation.

Woorabinda council last month voted to ban alcohol as part of the state government's efforts to tackle indigenous alcohol abuse.

In exchange, the government will help the community by setting up a detoxification and rehabilitation centre and boost police and liquor licensing officer numbers.

Ms Spence said police union representatives had inspected the Brisbane company modifying the shipping containers and were satisfied with the arrangements.

"I suspect they're the first public servants in Queensland to be living in shipping containers," she told parliament.

Each container is 12m long and is air-conditioned.

An accommodation kit consists of two containers.

One is split into two separate bedrooms, each with its own en suite bathroom and shower.

The second container has a lounge area, dining area, kitchen and laundry.

The Queensland Police Service has ordered four containers at a cost of $214,000 to be delivered and installed in June.

Ms Spence said police numbers in Woorabinda would increase to eight this week while another three uniformed officers would begin in the next few months.

"There is an urgency to get extra police into Woorabinda to assist the community to go dry so we cannot wait for negotiations regarding land and native title," she said.

"As a government we will do what it takes, so police have had to think outside the square."

AAP