Step this way to get your daily fix of green news, eco product launches and videos delivered by email.
Think you can get a good night's sleep in one of these? Travelodge does. The favourite destination of motorway mile-munchers is doing its bit for the environment by building its next generation of hotels from recycled shipping containers. Travelodge may not have a history of adopting innovative building design, but this volte face will save time, money and look good to boot.
The new 120-room Travelodge in Uxbridge will be built from 86 shipping containers sourced from China with all the fittings -- bathroom, plasterboard, electric points -- already installed. The units will be bolted together, cladded and decorated on-site. A second site is underway at Heathrow.
Travelodge reckons that because the modules are made of steel, the hotel can be dismantled and each module removed from the site. If the modules aren't re-used, they can be re-salvaged. It reckons that using this technique it could create temporary hotels at places like festivals and major sporting events.
The Uxbridge Travelodge was designed and built by Verbus Systems, which has developed the modular construction system over the last four years. It reckons that Travelodge will save around 10 per cent on construction costs and 25 per cent construction time.
Prefabrication is a proven technique. Travelodge's process is similar to the award-winning Murray Grove N1 apartments by housing association Peabody Trust, which arrived complete on the back of a lorry in 1999. The big difference is that Travelodge chose shipping containers rather than portacabins.
Travelodge is the first major hotel chain to bring recycling into prefab building construction, but its not the first time that shipping containers have found a new role in the UK. Container City at Trinity Buoy Wharf, a mixed development of artists' workshops and offices for start-ups in London's Docklands, pioneered the process of using shipping containers to create architecturally stunning, low-cost buildings.
Shipping containers could become a major building material not just for temporary structures, but also schools, residential developments, retail outlets and offices. A single 40ft unit can be picked up on eBay for as little as £1,000.00, but you may need to arrange for your own delivery.
Please note: Your email address must be entered but will not be displayed
Please note: All submitted content becomes the sole property of CNET Networks UK and may be used, edited or rejected at CNET Networks UK's sole discretion. You acknowledge that you, not CNET Networks UK, are responsible for the contents of your submission.
Step this way to get your daily fix of green news, eco product launches and videos delivered by email.
