Shipping containers turn up in some unexpected places. One of the more ambitious is Lagos, where the state government has used modular, containerised buildings to put classrooms up faster than conventional construction allows.
What the programme involves
The idea is to build technology-enabled schools from scratch using containerised structures that arrive with the equipment for teaching already in them. The units are fitted out with interactive IT, and the buildings use environmentally friendly materials for flooring, roofing, walls and paint.
A modular block is not limited to a single storey. The design can run to ground and first floor, or ground, first and second, depending on what the site needs.
The first of these was deployed at Vetland Junior Grammar School in Agege, with the programme planned across the state’s six educational districts, one in each.
Why they chose it
The driver was speed. Many schools in the state were short of classroom blocks, and a modular building can be delivered in around six months or less, with a simpler procurement process and room to extend later. Solar panels were included to deal with unreliable mains power.
A finished block covers more than classrooms. The specification includes corridors, toilets, teachers’ and staff rooms and a principal’s office, with the IT fitted once the structure is in place.
The approach is not universal. In coastal areas such as Badagry, the weather and proximity to the sea make a container structure less suitable, so other methods are used there while keeping the same technology inside.
The same logic, closer to home
Strip away the distance and the reasoning is familiar. A container is already a strong, weathertight box, so fitting one out off site and craning it into place is quicker than building from scratch, produces less waste, and leaves you with something that can be moved or extended later.
That is exactly why portable cabins, site offices and welfare units work the way they do on UK sites, where a building is needed quickly, temporarily, or somewhere a permanent structure would never be approved.
The Lagos modular schools programme was reported by The Guardian Nigeria.
