Shipping container bike sheds

There's seemingly no limit to the number of uses for decommissioned shipping containers. We've seen them stacked to make houses and even filled with water to create swimming pools, but the latest idea is bike storage.

The Container Cycle Hub was a finalist in the innovation category of the Healthy Streets Awards 2019 and for good reason.

The idea was first developed following a request by Waltham Forest Council for secure cycle parking for their staff. The original request was to install traditional cycle shelters with cycle stands within the depot car park. However, these take up more space, are not as secure and require concrete foundations which are costly and not environmentally friendly.

The design offers secure cycle storage and can be easily transported and installed in less than a day. In common with all shipping container based architecture, the cycle hub is modular, meaning you can add units side by side, expanding cycle parking capacity.

{{cta-cycling}}

Upcycled shipping containers

We're great fans of upcycled shipping containers. After all, what will become of the world’s estimated 20 million shipping containers? Many spend their lives ferrying items from China to Europe and beyond to fuel our consumer lifestyles – their return journeys frequently carrying more than a third of the waste plastic and paper collected by British local authorities, supermarkets and businesses for recycling 8,000 miles away in China. Luckily, when they’ve finished their life at sea many retire to dry land to lead an altogether more environmentally friendly existence.

A resourceful Canadian company is doing a roaring trade in shipping containers upcycled into swimming pools. Modpools is forecasting sales of over $6m this year and it's easy to see why. The shipping container pools start at around £8,000 and all come with a large glass observation window as well as the option to subdivide the pool into a smaller hot tub included in the price.

Shipping container houses are now available pre-wired and plumbed fro around £35,000. Once converted, it's hard to imagine the little homes were once cold and draughty steel boxes.

Other shipping containers are destined to become farms. Local Roots uses reconditioned shipping containers to house hydroponic farms that cultivate lettuce, strawberries, or kale.

The 40-foot shipping containers grow as much fruit and vegetables as could be cultivated in five acres of conventional farm land, and all year round. Crucially, the container farms use 97 per cent less water than a farm producing an equivalent harvest.

The ethical choice

The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. Over 30 years on, we continue to offer cycle insurance , breakdown cover and mobility scooter insurance while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.

The Good Shopping Guide judges us to be the UK's most ethical provider.

{{cta-cycling}}