Shipping Container Home Defies Lack of Affordable Housing in Leicester

Plans have been submitted by Leicester-based architectural design and property management consultancy, TMDP LLP to build Leicester’s first home constructed entirely from shipping containers.

With a total build cost of £170,000 (£85k build + £85k land), the new home being built from eight shipping containers, is a creative yet unconventional solution to the lack of affordable housing within Leicester and will provide self-builder Christopher King, together with fiancé Sharna and three year old daughter Sadie, with a family home that far exceeds what they could afford on the open market.

The two storey, three bedroomed, detached property is to be built on an irregular shaped pocket of land on Upperton Rise, only a mile from the heart of the city centre, where similar sized properties can cost up to £100k more and demand is extremely high.  

Christopher King said: “We knew where we wanted to live and the sort of home we’d like to live in, however after three property purchases fell through and we couldn’t find anything else within our budget, we felt there must be another solution so started to look for a plot of land to build our own house instead.

“I had for several years been fascinated with the concept of building a home from shipping containers and had spent months researching the building methodology, hoping that one day I would be able to put my knowledge into practice. It now seemed like the perfect solution for us to get on to the property ladder and we could achieve the look and feel of a mid-sized conventional home – albeit much larger than I could have hoped for - if I followed the lead of many intrepid self-builders and built a container home.”   

Scott Moore, Managing Partner,TMDP who designed the new home commented: “This is an exciting commission for us and one that we’ve loved putting together.  

“Although designing and building a house from shipping containers is rather unconventional, there has been no compromise on amenities or utilities.  In fact it will feature everything today’s self-builder would expect for their new home, including high levels of insulation, timber cladding and solar panels, but built at a fraction of the cost of traditionally constructed home.

“Using containers rather than bricks and mortar, is surprisingly flexible and the ability to orientate what are, in essence metal boxes, to suit a challenging plot of land has been a major plus. Added to that, with a build period of only six months we will see the City’s first container home by in the end of this summer.

Scott Moore added: “There is huge shortage of affordable housing within Leicester but by using a pre-fabricated commodity such as shipping containers to provide homes that are accessible and affordable to all, has to be the way to alleviate the challenges faced by both self-builders and housing providers alike.”