Travelodge have completed their third recycled hotel made out of shipping containers – the biggest modular hotel in the world to date.

        A 307-room Travelodge has been built from high strength steel containers which were manufactured and fitted to the highest standard by CIMC, the world’s largest manufacturer of shipping containers.

　　Manufactured to a complete finish in China, the modules were transported complete to England by boat where they were transported by road and fitted together like giant building blocks on the site at Heathrow in West London.

　　The 181 containers used in the Heathrow hotel were prepared to completion with finished plasterboard walls, electrics and bathrooms already in place before being shipped to the UK, stacked and assembled. The containers are simply bolted together and, once installed at the site, windows are fitted, the modules are decorated and furnished, and cladding is added to the exterior to create an attractive, conventional appearance.

　  The containers are fully re-useable and can simply be disassembled and shipped off to the next location if necessary.

　 The advantage of using this modular build technique is the affordability and efficiency gains in the speed of construction. The assembly of the 181 containers took just 3-4 months, minimising local disruption and environmental pollution and reducing revenue-generation lag.

　　With consistent high build quality, guaranteed schedule and tight budgetary control, the use of CIMC modular housing improves standards of project efficiency. All these factors mean that Return on Investment is greatly improved over conventional construction methods. Modular construction reduces costs by up to 10 - 15 per cent.

　　Travelodge plan to build half of all future hotels this way. Heathrow is the third hotel using this method following the success of their pioneering developments at Uxbridge and Warminster.