In the last year, the company has converted about 100 containers for a handful of projects, including a two-story office building for the U.S. Army in Fort Bragg, N.C. Designed by the St. Louis, Mo.-based architecture firm the Lawrence Group, the building was made from 12 shipping containers converted by SG Blocks.
In the next two years, the company expects to convert 5,000 containers for 50 to 80 residential, commercial and mixed-use projects across North America.
"Builders and developers are looking for a leg up. Everyone is really wanting to be green," said Bruce Russell, managing director for SG Blocks.
Noting that the process of converting the containers into construction blocks consumes far less energy than the process of totally melting the whole container down, he said, "we have the greenest building structural system that there is."
Attracted by the company's sustainable approach to construction, developers, architects and builders have had an overwhelmingly positive response, Russell said.
Right now, the company is working on a 220-unit dormitory for Lubbock Christian University in Lubbock, Texas, and a senior housing development in Oceanside, Calif. SLS Partnership, Inc., a Lubbock, Texas-based architecture firm, designed the dormitory and the Lawrence Group designed the housing development.
Because the containers were designed to brave the elements at sea, they're perfect for hurricane- and tornado-prone parts of the country. They're also best suited for multiunit buildings.
"The higher we go, the more cost advantageous it is," said SG Blocks' Russell.
Fifteen containers can be installed with one crane in one day, which means that months can be shaved off construction time.
"This is far faster than conventional construction," said Dan Rosenthal, a principal with the Lawrence Group. "There are significant savings associated with that."
The larger the project, the more apparent the savings, he said. But, in general, an SG-based project is at least competitive with, if not 15 percent cheaper than a conventional project.
John K. McIlwain, a housing expert at the nonprofit Urban Land Institute who saw an SG Blocks-Lawrence Group home at a recent conference, said he was impressed by both the economic and the environmental benefits of the innovation.
Do you have more information about this topic? If so, please click here to contact the editors of ABC News.
