If you’ve ever visited The Spice Trail, or even just walked past, you might have noticed that we have a number on previously used shipping containers that have been converted in our office, staff housing and a little boutique coffee shop in the front of our property named Bites.
We have always had an interest in being as cco-friendly as possible. Given, that Arugam Bay’s ‘best-side’ is its natural beauty and the ability of the people to exist amongst it. We opted for a way of building that is more conducive to the idea of ‘reduce, reuse, re-cycle’. Upcycling is the term given to the act of taking an item which is on the verge of being discarded or dumped and finding a completely new use for it.
So, we’ve opted to use some old freight containers in a way that is becoming increasingly popular, worldwide. Convert them to living and working spaces.
We’ve thus far converted six containers into our current office, coffee shop, staff quarters and are in the process of converting one into a cocktail bar, pictured above [right]
At Bites and the new bar we have also re-purposed some old shipping pallet wood as decoration and shelving. With a group of professionals helping us and the results have been nothing short of impressive, to say the least.
Not only does this method of up-cycling save on spending, but it saves time and requires much less important resources like steel reinforcement, concrete, bricks, timber and roofing. More importantly, it reduces the need of shipping companies to discard these containers prematurely, thus also reducing the heavy demand on building materials on the island.
Need some ideas for your next build? Come and check out what we’ve done and we can give you some more in-depth information about our process.
Signed
The Spice Trail Team :)