By Farah Wahida:
With their eco-friendly features and fast building time, container homes are expected to become trendy in Malaysia, according to Ken Kwok, Chief Executive Officer of Anand Bungalows Sdn Bhd.
“They are suitable for many types of buildings, for example residential, commercial, resorts, educational and other institutional buildings,” he said, adding that his company turned six shipping containers into smart and eco-friendly houses in Pahang.
“The container home at Bukit Tinggi, Pahang is our first project in Malaysia. We took four months to complete it with a built-up area of 2,600 sq ft. It set the benchmark for all our up-coming container projects. There are a few more projects in the pipeline such as flying cabins, teachers’ quarters, sports halls, box hotels and individual bungalows.”
One of the advantages of container homes is its short building period which significantly reduces construction cost. These units are also modular in nature, hence they can easily be renovated if there is a need.
While their steel composition makes them durable, they also make the houses a good heat conductor — meaning they can easily get hot in the summer or during sunny days. As such, they require good insulation to reduce heat transmission.
In addition, renovating these units requires skilled welders, which are sometimes hard to find locally.
Nonetheless, transforming shipping containers into green homes or even offices and shopping malls are catching on across the globe due to its huge benefits. Notable examples include the container shopping mall in Christchurch, New Zealand.
“In the future, owning a container house could be like owning a luxury branded handbag. It could become a status symbol due to popular demand,” Kwok added.
Farah Wahida, Editor of PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact her about this or other stories email farahwahida@propertyguru.com.my
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