Meath Court Gardens is an innovative housing scheme that makes use of repurposed shipping containers to offer a sustainable, cost-effective and flexible temporary accommodation for lower income earners.
Developed by QED Sustainable Urban Developments, Meath Court is located in on a former brownfield site in Acton, West London, and is the largest temporary accommodation of its kind in the UK. The project, which is subject to a 7 year temporary planning consent, features 60 apartments housing over 280 people, as well as communal space, an onsite management office, a laundry and refuse storage. The apartment typologies include: 8 studio units (for 1-2 people), 20 one bedroom units (for 2-4 people), 32 two bedroom units (for 3-6 people).
The container apartments were fully constructed, fitted and finished in 24 weeks at a factory in Cornwall, allowing them to be installed quickly on site, with minimal additional works required.
The use of shipping containers as a housing solution in this project is an innovative response to the UK’s housing supply problems, providing comfortable accommodation for individuals and families potentially facing homelessness. As QED asserts, the construction industry’s use of raw materials is amongst the highest in any single industry and buildings currently represent a huge resource bank for future use, unfortunately at the moment these are ‘downcycled’ with limited consideration of re-use. Meath Court is different – it has re-use at the core of its design – a crucial model to address the long-term affordability and sustainability of our built environment.
You can read more about the Meath Court project as well as the viability of temporary housing in this article by Quartz.