Landlord acquires shipping containers for housing
A housing association on the south coast is on the verge of submitting a planning application to turn shipping containers into temporary accommodation for 36 people.
Brighton Housing Trust has already sourced the containers and land to put them on and wants to apply for planning permission before Christmas for the accommodation to be available in late spring next year.
Andy Winter, BHT chief executive, said: ‘Given the desperate situation regarding housing in Brighton and Hove, imaginative solutions are required.
‘Shipping containers have rarely been used as temporary living accommodation in the United Kingdom but there are a number of examples in continental Europe.’
He cited the example of Keetwonen in Amsterdam, completed in 2006, where 1,000 containers are still used for accommodation.
The containers BHT has acquired for Brighton – at a discounted rate – have been designed and constructed by the same organisation that created the Keetwonen units, Tempo Housing.
The housing association will be working with developers QED.
Chris Gilbert, of director of QED, said: ‘If successful, this formula could be a very effective way of helping to alleviate the housing crisis in Brighton, by providing “transition housing” on a site that would otherwise be underutilised until a major development came forward which is not likely to happen for a number of years, given the current economic climate.’
