I have a vision - polytunnel ontop of a shipping container

[WhyLikeThis]

For a community garden, we’re getting a new container to store our shit in. But thses containers are designed to support serious weight. So it can def hold a poly tunnel with some raised beds, hugelkultur, plus compost etc.

I wonder if I can get enough people onboard for this unusual scheme?

 

[Epona]

For a community garden, we’re getting a new container to store our shit in. But thses containers are designed to withold serious weight. So it can def hold a polytunnel with some raised beds, hugylkultr, plus compost from the council.

Growing shit alll year??!!??

It my happy space, dont be mean.

Going be wicked , just gotta find the right allies, plot and present. Then ew can grow all ghe good things to eat and to share, spread the love

(I’m on ambien agai does it ##£’.

Some of the buildings at the place I volunteer are containers and all the top floor ones have green rooves, no polytunnels up there mind, but if it has the capacity to hold the weight of anything you put up there I can't see why it shouldn't be possible.
The toilet/wash block is not a container but rather a custom build made by the on-site team and has a bee hive on the green roof

 

[Epona]

Oh just one thought, might want to make sure any insurance for the place covers people working at height before sending people up there to do stuff, check out the H&S aspect of working up there etc.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Well it would need a risk assessment that probably involves regularly inspected access and roof top barriers. Which I'm guessing won't happen if designed on the back of a fag packet.

 

[WhyLikeThis]

Well it would need a risk assessment that probably involves regularly inspected access and roof top barriers. Which I'm guessing won't happen if designed on the back of a fag packet.

So, it’s not even on the back of fag packet right now, just in the back of my noggin. For H&S people will not be able to get near the edges as there will be raised beds around the outside, except for the entrance.

 

[StoneRoad]

Apart from the H&S points already mentioned, I would double check the load-bearing & waterproofing of the container "roof" , especially the latter - you might want to add an extra damp-proof membrane.

Also. given the 'houlie' currently battering the country, I would also check that the polytunnel material / structure& it's anchoring parts can take the wind loading.

That said - I like the idea !

 

[Idaho]

My concerns would be that it's relatively shaded with such high narrow sides. Ideally you want a bit more space inside your walled garden. Perhaps a few stitched together? Also it will be like a furnace in there on a hot sunny day. Great for citrus fruit and tomato family stuff... Avocados? ... But not suited to an ordinary range of standard community garden plants

 

[iona]

Anchoring is probably going to need some sort of complicated bodged scaffolding arrangement as usually polytunnels come with one of a few different types of feet to fix into the ground. Stacking big raised beds on the roof might potentially be a weight issue as I imagine shipping containers are stronger round the edges since they're built to be stacked? You'll need to consider drainage for the raised beds too.

If it's an official enough community garden project to be doing risk assessments and all that stuff, you'll need to think about maintenance access as well - how will you repair the skin if it rips, for example? What if the door or something falls off in a storm and lands on someone or something from that height?

 

[iona]

My concerns would be that it's relatively shaded with such high narrow sides. Ideally you want a bit more space inside your walled garden. Perhaps a few stitched together? Also it will be like a furnace in there on a hot sunny day. Great for citrus fruit and tomato family stuff... Avocados? ... But not suited to an ordinary range of standard community garden plants

I think they're talking about using a regular polytunnel at first floor level, with the roof of the shipping container as its floor? So shade wouldn't be an issue.

 

[WhyLikeThis]

Anchoring is probably going to need some sort of complicated bodged scaffolding arrangement as usually polytunnels come with one of a few different types of feet to fix into the ground. Stacking big raised beds on the roof might potentially be a weight issue as I imagine shipping containers are stronger round the edges since they're built to be stacked? You'll need to consider drainage for the raised beds too.

If it's an official enough community garden project to be doing risk assessments and all that stuff, you'll need to think about maintenance access as well - how will you repair the skin if it rips, for example? What if the door or something falls off in a storm and lands on someone or something from that height?

I’m thinking screwing in decking as a base so, the weight will be distributed to the frame pf the container. Then the poly tunnel could be potentially screwed into the decking.

Re: thing blowing off and landing on someone, its not near a path the risk of landing on someone is low.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Maybe I thinking to big, but I helped build a polly tunnel and we had to dig pretty deep to anchor it down. When the wind blows it puts a fair amount of force on them. And when they go they really go.

 

[iona]

Maybe I thinking to big, but I helped build a polly tunnel and we had to dig pretty deep to anchor it down. When the wind blows it puts a fair amount of force on them. And when they go they really go.

Yeah I'd be concerned about them being ripped off the decking roof/floor in really bad weather, especially if drainage isn't managed well and bits of the decking have been sitting under wet soil for a few years. It could work but needs some careful planning.

And putting up ladders on top of a shipping container to build the thing will be fun.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Yeah I'd be concerned about them being ripped off the decking roof/floor in really bad weather, especially if drainage isn't managed well and bits of the decking have been sitting under wet soil for a few years. It could work but needs some careful planning.

And putting up ladders on top of a shipping container to build the thing will be fun.

It's the skinning that sounds the most fun.

 

[iona]

It's the skinning that sounds the most fun.

Shipping containers are only about 8ft wide so I reckon actually it would still be less faff than a much bigger tunnel at ground level