Does the eco-friendly future of housing lie in shipping containers?

Shipping container homes offer an affordable and eco-friendly alternative to traditional home construction.

While the trend has found some devoted fans, particularly as eco-friendly practices begin to influence the new construction market, this was not the sentiment of Salt Rock residents who expressed their outrage when an “unsightly container house” first appeared in their neighbourhood in February 2017.

The area’s councillor, the late Malcolm Hubner received at least five written complaints from residents who said the structure would devalue their property.

Fast forward two years and its hard to tell the difference between a normal brick house and this environmentally friendly house. Max Greenblatt who built the house for his sister said he wanted to build a house that was going to be a legitimately green solution.

“If everyone can contribute in some small way or effect one small change in their environment we can make a major change to our planet that is currently in crisis,” said Greenblatt.

The 120 square feet house is built out of two 12 metre maritime-grade cargo shipping containers and the home is divided into two bedrooms, two bathrooms with a linear kitchen, and a living and dining area.

However, the container interior surfaces are covered with traditional wood siding and might easily be mistaken for those inside any timber-framed house, making for a more sedate kerb appeal.

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“The completion of the house took longer than expected because the municipality took a long time to pass the plans,” said Greenblatt.

Building with shipping containers is not exactly new, but until recently it has not been exactly mainstream either. Greenblatt said it is becoming a lot more popular, as eco-friendly practices begin to influence market trends.

Containers are loved by the hip and the practical, artisans and DIY-ers, engineers and construction foremen, as they are both sustainable and affordable. So it’s not surprising that some industry professionals consider them the future of home building.

“I paid R20 000 per container and anything that is seaworthy is construction-worthy, as they are subject to strict international standards,” Greenblatt pointed out.

Most containers are now a standard size: about eight feet wide, eight and a half feet high; and either 20 or 40 feet long. Shipping-container structures continue to pop up around the world.

Johannesburg has a 75,000-square-foot live-work high-rise made of them while in Anyang, South Korea, there is a 2,600 square foot school made of shipping containers.

America has an entire community of shipping containers, a project known as the Cargo District, and countless single-family homes in the country and others around the world make use of containers.

Despite the initial resistance, Greenblatt said he has received many compliments from locals since nearing completion.

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