Shipping Containers in Community Sport: Affordable Asset or Public Eyesore?

In this day and age is there a place for shipping containers as part of the facility mix at community sport and recreation venues? Riding past Lake Rua the other day made me ponder this point, after seeing these relatively unobtrusive containers next to the Canoe Polo facility (the first photo).

Containers on public space, used as additional storage space by clubs and organisations have been the bane of many council officer over the years. They have been deemed as unappealing and potentially de-value the value the public receives from these spaces. Especially when they arrive on site without the land owner knowing a container was turning up.

However, is it time to re-consider this? Given construction costs have increased considerably, a $5,000-$10,000 shipping container may be the most achievable solution in some cases. The cost to place a container on site could be as little as 5%-10% of the cost of building the same space.

A container is tough too. You are not going to get holes in the walls and they are pretty secure. But the biggest advantage is the obvious; it can be removed from site easily and re-purposed.

To balance things out, a container is not the ideal solution. They don’t all come with ventilation, creating some issues. They require a stable base, often requiring a slab to be poured. Unless they are visually improved with trellising or similar, they can be an eyesore. The doors are heavy to operate too.

So, they are ok for overflow / seasonal / temporary types of uses, however they probably aren’t your best bet for primary storage space for a facility. That is unless you want a park full of mismatched steel boxes that take up space (the second photo).