Look what you can do with containers: Hotel built with 120 containers

The largest shipping-container-based hotel in North America has opened in the town of Sioux Lookout, about 400 km northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont. Builders used 120 surplus shipping containers to construct the 60-room Days Inn on top of a steel foundation. Sioux Lookout is a hub in northern Ontario, with frequent travellers because of its hospital, mining, hydroelectric and resource-development projects. Before the two-storey facility's official opening Dec 9, the town only had one hotel.

Above: Construction with Used Seacans

Steenhof Building Services Group in Orillia, Ont. engineered the project. General manager Joseph Emmons said the hotel design was environmentally-friendly, using steel containers that were piling up in Canada from internationally-shipped goods.

The foundation was constructed of steel piles that go down to bedrock. "It's a unique system that's never been used before," Emmons said.

Above: Construction with Used Shipping Containers

Canadian Press Reported:

SIOUX LOOKOUT, Ont. — A Days Inn hotel built of 120 surplus shipping containers has opened in this northern Ontario town.

Calgary-based manufacturer Ladacor announced the opening, calling the two-storey, 60-room building located 380 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay "the largest shipping container-based hotel in North America.''

The company says it has developed expertise in repurposing shipping containers for modular buildings.

The technology was "an environmentally sustainable and progressive solution'' that resulted in "a very high-quality project to meet stringent standards of the Days Inn brand,'' said Ladacor president Joseph Kiss.

Hotel owner Don Klisowsky said the construction method allowed for the hotel to be built in just 13 months, compared to an estimated 2 1/2 years if traditional methods had been used.

Photo Canadian Press - Days Inn Hotel - Sioux Lookout, about 400 km northwest of Thunder Bay - Constructed with 120 Used Shipping Containers