Far from being just a big metal box for transporting goods and already a source of inspiration for artists and architects, the cargo container has now also been used by hotel chain Travelodge to build an entire hotel.

The building, due to open in June in the London suburb of Uxbridge, is based on a bedroom module developed by British company Verbus Systems. The steel box (which resembles a standard cargo container but is 50 per cent larger) is made in China and already comes fi tted with bathrooms, plastered walls and power sockets. With this method, which is 25 per cent faster and 10 per cent more economic than traditional construction methods, the low-cost hotel chain is building a 120-room hotel on 9 storeys using 87 “modifi ed containers”. When building work is complete, the containers will be hidden behind a more reassuring cladding of bricks and mortar, but if necessary it can all be easily taken down and re-erected on another site. Travelodge aims to build 40 low-cost hotels per year until 2020. E.S.

www.travelodge.co.uk