
Shipping and storage containers may not always look like much, but they have become a more common sight in art communities worldwide over recent years. Although their practical use for storage cannot be understated, and that’s why we love them, they are now also being used in a variety of innovative and unexpected ways. Here are just three of them.
Tackling Homelessness
One of the social applications of storage containers is to provide temporary and versatile accommodation for the homeless population. For the most vulnerable in society, particularly in the winter months and particularly for families with young children, this can make a huge difference to both their physical and mental wellbeing.
In Wales, a Newport based charity named Amazing Grace Spaces has been creating homes from containers to help tackle homelessness. By putting a temporary roof over their heads, these containers can provide security for homeless people which can be used as a platform to get themselves off the street and into a more permanent home and employment.
Boosting The Economy
In cities around the UK, containers are now also being used as bases for small businesses. Whether these are retail outlets, restaurants, coffee shops or office spaces, containers provide an affordable alternative to a more traditional space for start-up companies which themselves help to fuel innovation and inflate the economy.
Boxpark, a pop-up food and retail park, now has London locations in Shoreditch, Croydon and Wembley. In Bristol, Box Works offers office space to professionals near Temple Meads and Cargo in Whapping Wharf is the city’s first container retail yard. These innovations show that containers can be used intuitively to help develop communities economically and provide more options for consumers.
Nightlife
Similarly to these new retail parks, containers are also now being used to provide spaces for a vibrant nightlife. In Lisbon, Village Underground has been providing a cultural hub for the Portuguese capital and includes a renovated warehouse space with capacity for gigs and DJ events. A little further afield in Hyderabad, India, Dock 45 is another of these container villages that create cultural centres for revellers and are becoming an international phenomenon for nightlife.
Who We Are
Manchester Cabins has been manufacturing portable building cabins for forty years, starting with our founder Frank Rothwell on the driveway of his family home.
Four decades later and we now specialise in strong steel storage containers, portable toilets, anti-vandal cabins, and other styles of portable buildings.
To find out more, contact us . You can find us at Tweedale Way, Chadderton, Oldham, Lancashire, OL9 7LD, call us on 0161 684 3333 or email us at info@manchestercabins.co.uk.
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