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Shipping Container Barns: A Smart Solution for Modern Farming

11 October 2024
shipping container barn

Shipping containers don’t spend their whole life at sea. Increasingly, you’ll spot them on land: doing duty as construction site offices, tiny homes, and storage units. You might even see them in the countryside.

Farms all over the UK have discovered the value of shipping containers. They’re portable, cost-effective, and secure. You can use them for everything from tool storage to farm offices, barns, or even growing greens, flowers, and mushrooms indoors.

Can you use a shipping container as a barn?

The simple answer is – yes! Shipping containers are famously versatile. They’re built from steel, so they’re durable even in tough environments. They’re also portable, compact, and lockable — all characteristics which make them useful for space-saving buildings, such as barns.

Using a shipping container as a barn can save you time and costs. When you construct a barn or shed from scratch, you have to arrange and pay for materials, transportation, design, and labour. But installing a storage container barn takes much less work. 

Do shipping containers make good barns?

Barns have been a fixture of the rural landscape for thousands of years. And with good reason: they’re useful for storage, sheltering animals, farm work, and a hundred other uses. 

However, that doesn’t mean they should stay the same forever. Antique barns are beautiful — but they’re also drafty, expensive to maintain, and can be an inefficient use of space. When you choose a shipping container to use as your barn, you’re upgrading to a more durable structure that’s cheap to install and easy to move around.

With a few modifications, they can become versatile spaces, and even add some aesthetic appeal. Modern farms use storage containers to become more efficient, eco-friendly, and attractive.

Benefits of using a shipping container as a barn

From large-scale farms to smallholdings and even allotments, storage container barns have a lot to offer. You can tweak the design, placement, and security to suit your needs.

Durability

Shipping containers are made from steel. They’re designed to survive handling, stacking, and sea voyages in harsh weather conditions. Better yet, while their outer shell is tough, the simple rectangular frame makes it easy to add modifications.

Shipping container barns are a shortcut to growing crops year-round, without worrying about rain, wind, or frost damage.

When you plan a storage container barn, you can add environmental controls to manage temperature, humidity, lighting, and watering schedules. You can keep pests out, and use secure locks to protect your produce.

Sustainability

If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, a shipping container barn design is a great choice. First of all, you’ll be upcycling an existing structure, instead of using new resources. You’ll save the shipping container itself from going to landfill. 

Next, you can make modifications to improve the barn’s green credentials even more. Because of their rectangular, compact shape, it’s easy to add systems such as rainwater harvesting, solar panels, and passive heating/cooling to shipping containers. You could even cover the steel frame with climbing plants or a green roof!

shipping container barn conversion

Versatility

Running a farm means balancing many demands at once: time, finances, seasonal change, and space, to name just a few. Shipping containers are valuable because they offer a completely flexible indoor space. You can move them around, refit them, or repurpose them to fulfil a need anywhere on the farm. 

For example, you can use a bare-bones shipping container to store tools or farm machinery. With a few modifications to control the humidity and temperature, it could hold grain or other foodstuffs. And with plumbing and electricity wired in, it could become a makeshift plant nursery or greenhouse. 

Cost-efficiency

Shipping containers are highly cost-effective. Unlike a conventional building, where you have to pay for materials and labour, a shipping container can be installed at minimal cost. Even if you need a large space, such as a warehouse, the size-to-cost ratio still comes out in favour of shipping containers.

The modular structure of shipping containers means that they stay cost-effective over time. If you need to scale up or down, you can simply add or take away containers. It’s a lot simpler — and cheaper — than building an extension for a warehouse, barn, or shed.

Security

Security is a major concern for shipping companies, so containers come with multiple security features. Thick steel walls and locks protect whatever’s stored inside. You can add a lockbox or security camera for extra peace of mind.

Interested in learning more about shipping container security?

Protecting your container from theft and damage is essential, whether it’s used for storage or as a workspace. From securing doors to advanced locking systems, there are various ways to ensure your container is safe.

Find out how to protect your investment and prevent unauthorised access in our detailed guide!

Read guide

Transportability

Shipping container barns are unique because they can be easily moved around. All you need for transporting shipping containers is a suitably large vehicle.

You can place a container almost anywhere, without any set-up time required. If you use storage containers to grow crops, you could even transport and sell crops from the same container where they were grown.

Compactness

Shipping containers can be more than 40 feet long, so they’re not exactly tiny. But their rectangular shape is highly efficient.

Each container is a compact, versatile indoor space which doesn’t require any external support. Compared to conventional buildings, shipping containers usually have a much smaller footprint, while still offering a lot of value. 

You can also choose small sizes, or even cut shipping containers down to custom sizes. Most containers are 8 feet wide, and can range in length from 8 feet to over 50 feet. Chances are, there’s something in the range of shipping container sizes that will suit your needs.

Drawbacks of using a shipping container as a barn

No building is perfect, and even shipping containers have their limitations. There are a few problems you might encounter while you’re coming up with a container barn design. 

Size

Shipping containers come in standard sizes and shapes, which makes it easy to manage costs and calculate the space you need. But if you want a custom build, you’ll need to adapt shipping containers by stacking or joining additional units or making modifications to their size. 

Environmental control

Indoor farming is a tricky business. You need a consistent temperature and humidity level, but things are constantly in flux: lights generate heat and water evaporates from plants back into the air. If the environment isn’t monitored then it could spiral out of control.

If you’re planning to use a shipping container for indoor crops, you’ll need modifications for electricity, plumbing, ventilation, and climate control. Luckily, these are easy to retrofit into the simple structure of a container. 

Human workflow

Shipping containers are built for cargo. They’re pretty good at holding plants, too. But – without modifications – they’re less good for people. Without proper ventilation, insulation, and climate control, shipping containers can be uncomfortable places to work.

Make sure that your shipping container barns have been adapted so that they’re comfortable to work in. If you use shipping containers as offices or break rooms, prioritise features like adding windows, multiple ventilation sources, and insulation.

Need ventilation for your shipping container?

Check out our selection of air vents for shipping containers!

View products

How can a shipping container barn be used?

Shipping containers are incredibly versatile. Whether you need storage space or growing space, just one container or a whole field of them, they can make your farm more efficient to run. 

Storage

Shipping containers are literally built for storage and cargo. They can store anything you need on hand, from equipment to machinery, animal feed, and spare parts. 

Animal stalls

Containers can be converted into simple animal stalls, holding areas, and pens. You can make modifications for insulation, heating, water, and light if required. 

shipping container animal stall barn

Crop growing

As the climate becomes more unstable, more farmers are turning to shipping containers as a flexible way to grow crops indoors. You can grow plants in a storage container using soil or hydroponics. Better still, indoor crops don’t need pesticides or herbicides, so they’re more environmentally friendly. 

Security offices and workshops

Shipping containers can be modified with wiring, windows, and ventilation to use as workshops. Large containers can even be used for vehicle maintenance. Since storage containers are very secure, you can use them to store valuable tools and machinery safely.

External storage

If you plan to use multiple shipping containers, you can also add external storage. It’s as simple as adding a canopy between spaced-out units. This is a popular way to shelter tractors and other large machinery, with tools and spare parts securely stored nearby.

Elaborate barn conversions

At its simplest, a shipping container barn can be a single unit. But you don’t have to stop there. You can stack containers or place them side-by-side for more space. You can modify them to include more windows, skylights, and doors. You can even add other materials and features, such as additional roofs, wood or brick cladding, or a “green” roof and walls. 

Some people go for futuristic, modern designs, while others prefer container barns which blend in with nature. The beauty of a shipping container barn design is that you can make it your own.

How much does it cost to build a shipping container barn?

The cost of a shipping container barn plan depends on several factors, including the size and any modifications needed. Elaborate, custom designs tend to be more expensive, but a standard container barn can be extremely cost-effective. 

If you’re looking to cut costs, used shipping containers usually cost less than new ones. At Universal Containers, we stock used shipping containers from just £1500 +VAT, while new containers start at £2750. Conventional wooden barns start from £2500 — plus the labour costs for assembly. 

You’ll also need to check for any extra expenses. In some regions, you’ll need planning permission to set up a shipping container on private land, and you might need to pour concrete foundations. However, every case is different, so it’s worth doing your research.

The bottom line

Shipping containers are cost-effective, durable, versatile, and portable. That makes them invaluable on a working farm, where they can be used for everything from plant nurseries to vehicle workshops, grain storage, and animal shelters.

You can create a custom shipping container barn design that meets your specific needs. However, you’ll also need to be aware of costs and local planning permissions.

Looking for a completely custom solution?

We have a wide range of base containers that can be customised to your needs, however we realise that sometimes you need something completely ‘Outside the box’.

Contact us and one of our experts will be in touch to help design the container of your dreams

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