Ardmore turns shipping containers into student digs

Students could soon be sleeping in old shipping containers transformed into accommodation units by north London contractor Ardmore.

The firm is putting the finishing touches to designs for the student rooms at its offsite fabrication plant in Enfield.

Old shipping crates are transformed into single rooms boasting a bed, bathroom, study area and even a small kitchen.

They are designed to be totally portable and can be stacked up to 12 storeys high because the containers are self-supporting.

Ardmore director James Byrne believes the units will prove a hit in the student sector. He said: "There is a huge demand for student accommodation and we are getting a lot of interest because this is a cost-effective solution."

Shipping containers have already been used to build rooms at a Travelodge hotel in Uxbridge, west London and Container City in London's Docklands contains crates converted into studio space for local artists.

Byrne said: "As far as I know, this is the first time the containers have been adapted for student accommodation."

The student rooms will be built alongside bathroom pods for the London 2012 Olympics, where Ardmore has secured a contract to provide modules for more than half the 2,800 apartments.

Production will start in the next few weeks ready for the pods to be craned into place on the Stratford site.

The company is also extending its joinery workshop in Enfield, where prefabricated woodwork is made for all the firm's contracts.

Byrne said: "We have one of the biggest offsite operations in the country. A lot of prefab firms run into trouble if orders slow down, but we work alongside the site operations, so if things are slow in the factory the team can go out on site and vice versa."