There are many inventive ways in which converted shipping containers can find a new lease of life, often in a way few would have imagined during their old working lifetimes of being loaded up with goods and lifted onto container ships. Often, however, the benefits can be limited to those who buy them.
This is no bad thing, of course, if someone can make a home out of a used container or turn it into a place of storage. But some conversions have much to offer local communities.
Seldom could that be more true than in the case of a new community centre in Kent that will be located in two converted 40 ft shipping containers.
As Kent Online reports, the scheme involves Milton Creek Country Park Trust in the town of Sittingbourne creating a new community hub in the containers. Known as the “Space in the Park”, it will host workshops, events and all sorts of activities, with schools, youth groups and other local organisations making use of it.
The project to convert the containers will be funded using a government grant via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Among the tasks to be undertaken will be fitting the Space in the Park with a mini-kitchen, connecting it with electricity and providing ground source heat pumps. At the same time, it will be equipped with vandal-proof shutters. Needless to say, the fact it is made of robust steel will make it a great deal harder to inflict damage on than most buildings.
Around £90,000 has been raised towards the project, with another £40,000 required to fully fund it. Run mainly by volunteers, the scheme is scheduled to be up and running next spring.
Chair of the Property and Regeneration Committee on Swale Borough Council, Cllr Monique Bonney, remarked: “The new event space at Milton Creek Country Park will be a valuable asset for local people, providing a space for events, workshops, and community gatherings.”
A community hub is an obvious way in which lots of people can benefit from the reuse of a shipping container, but other conversions can bring benefits for different people in varied ways.
For instance, converting one into a bar gives some a place to drink and others a chance to make a successful living out of running a business that has a novel twist.
As Devon Live reported earlier this month, just such a bar is planned for Exeter, with the Devon-based Crossed Anchors Brewery submitting a planning application to establish a microbrewery and taproom in the town’s Vulcan Industrial Estate, which lies just south of the city centre by the Exeter Ship Canal.
The idea is far from a new one, a point made by the brewery in its planning application, which states: “There are a number of precedents built in other cities. These developments have a collection of hospitality, retail, or food outlets housed within storage containers.” Bristol, London and Liverpool were cited as relevant examples.
This may not represent the altruistic character of the community hub in Sittingbourne, but if it goes ahead, the shipping container taproom may certainly be appreciated by many members of the community in Exeter.
