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New hotel rooms are made our of shipping containers

Metro on Tuesday 8th January

Bedding down amid a pile of old metal shipping containers does not sound like the most relaxing night in a hotel.

But luckily for guests, the designers of this budget accommodation will not force them to board a giant ship when they check in.

Instead, an eight-storey Trav-elodge has been built by fitting 88 shipping containers together.

'Although it may not look like a hotel right now, you simply won't be able to tell the difference,' said Paul Harvey, property and development director of Travelodge.

The 'box and breakfast' accommodation is cheaper and faster to construct than normal buildings.

A 100-room Travelodge costs �5million to build, but a similar shipping container version would be �4.5million - and take 30 weeks to construct, instead of 40.

can also be taken apart and rebuilt again at speed, offering the prospect of short-term hotels for different needs. The steel containers could also be bolted together to create slightly more stylish - and less muddy - living quarters at music festivals and major sporting events.

These rooms in Uxbridge, West London, have been shipped from China, where bathrooms, plasterboard walls and electrical points had already been slotted into place.

Windows and furniture are being installed on site. The final touch - cladding - will come soon.

Hotel bosses insist guests will find their rooms, which start from �19 per night, feel the same as any budget chain.