Dual Offices with Canteen

Delivery included · Sales tax, where applicable, is added on the invoice

A dual office container solves two problems at once

Most small businesses that outgrow a single desk do not need a building. They need two closed rooms where a phone call can be taken and a document can be left on the desk, plus somewhere for the people who work there to wash, use a toilet and eat. A dual office container puts all of that inside one steel portable building: two separate offices, a WC and shower room, and a canteen with a working kitchenette. This unit is a refurbished cabin, fully overhauled inside and out, in excellent condition throughout, and it is described here room by room exactly as it stands.

Refurbished is the right word and it is used deliberately. The shell has served before. During the refurbishment the flooring, lighting, sanitary fittings, kitchenette, shutters and paintwork were checked and replaced or refinished as required. The result costs far less than the same layout built new, and is available as soon as transport is arranged rather than after a manufacturing lead time.

Room by room

Office 1. Two white UPVC tilt-and-turn windows with internal blinds. The consumer unit for the building. Carpet flooring. One 1200 mm fluorescent light. One internal door. Three double sockets. Fire alarm.

Office 2. Two white UPVC tilt-and-turn windows with internal blinds. Carpet flooring. One 1200 mm fluorescent light. One internal door. Three double sockets. Fire alarm.

WC and shower room. Toilet. Hand basin with water heater and mirror. Electric shower. Extractor fan. Vinyl flooring. One 1200 mm fluorescent light. Internal door. Wall-mounted fan heater.

Canteen with kitchenette. Kitchenette with sink, worktop and water heater. Additional worktops. Storage cupboards. Vinyl flooring. Two 1200 mm fluorescent lights. Extractor fan. Wall-mounted heater. Four double sockets and one single. One white UPVC tilt-and-turn window.

External. Five white UPVC tilt-and-turn windows with anti-vandal fan shutters. One centrally located anti-vandal door to the canteen area with locking keys. Steel anti-vandal construction. Exterior colour graphite grey.

How the layout works in a working day

The single external door opens into the canteen, and the two offices and the shower room open off it through their own internal doors. That arrangement does three useful things. The building has one secure entrance, so one lock secures everything at night. Each office is a private room with a door that closes, not a partitioned corner. And the canteen is the natural meeting place: the morning briefing, the delivery driver waiting for a signature and the lunch break all happen in the room that is designed for people to gather in, while the offices stay quiet.

Tilt-and-turn windows are a detail worth noticing. Tilted, they ventilate an office without leaving it open; turned, they open fully for cleaning and for a proper airing. Internal blinds control glare on screens. The anti-vandal fan shutters outside close over the glass when the building is empty.

Heating, lighting and electrics

Each room has its own heat source: the fan heater in the shower room, the wall heater in the canteen, and the building's heaters serving the offices, so a room in use can be warm without heating the whole cabin. Lighting is by 1200 mm fluorescent fittings, one per office, one in the shower room and two in the canteen; these can be replaced with LED tubes when they reach the end of their life. Socket provision is generous for a building of this kind: three double sockets in each office, four doubles and a single in the canteen. The consumer unit is in Office 1 and the building is wired throughout; an electrician terminates the incoming supply on site under local regulations. Fire alarms are fitted in both offices.

Water, waste and the shower room

The shower room and the kitchenette are the two wet points. Both draw on a single cold water feed to the building, with hot water made locally by the basin water heater, the electric shower and the kitchenette water heater, so there is no central tank. Waste from the toilet, basin, shower and sink falls to outlets under the floor that connect to a foul drain or, where none exists, to a holding tank. The extractor fans in the shower room and the canteen deal with steam and cooking moisture. When the cabin is sited, put the wet side towards the drain or tank position to keep the connection short.

Security

The construction is steel throughout, the external door is an anti-vandal security door with locking keys, and all five windows carry external fan shutters. There is nothing to prise off and no timber to force. For a business that keeps computers, tools or paperwork in its office overnight on an open yard, that matters more than any other feature, and it is the reason steel anti-vandal cabins hold their value in the used market.

Who buys a dual office container

• Small businesses that need a dedicated, lockable office on their own yard or plot without the cost and delay of a built extension.
• Growing firms that need two more desks this quarter, and want to be able to move or sell the building when they move on.
• Contractors who must provide an office, a canteen and washing facilities on site and would rather deliver them in a single lift.
• Employers with remote or field staff who need a base with a shower at a depot, a farm, a quarry or a wind farm.
• Clubs and community groups that need an office, a kitchen and a toilet next to their ground or hall.

Furnishing the offices

Each office has two windows on one wall and its door on another, which fixes the sensible desk position: facing the door with the windows to one side, so daylight falls across the work rather than onto the screen. The three double sockets are enough for a computer, a monitor, a printer and a phone charger without an extension lead. A tall cabinet against the blank wall takes the files; a second chair by the door takes the visitor. In the canteen, a table for six under the window and the worktops along the kitchenette wall leave the centre of the room free for the morning briefing.

Options

The following can be quoted in addition to the cabin as described: a further partition wall with internal door, a second kitchenette, an additional toilet with wash basin and water heater, an additional window with anti-vandal shutter, an additional external door, a full bathroom installation and a change of exterior colour. Where an office needs its own entrance, the additional external door is the option to ask for.

Refurbished against new

Siting and services

The cabin needs a firm, level standing and access for a flatbed truck with crane or truck-mounted loader off-loading. Provide a power supply, a cold water feed and a waste route to a drain or a tank close to the wet side of the building. A gravel or paved apron at the entrance keeps the canteen floor clean. If the building is to stay for years, concrete pads under the corners and a fall for surface water away from the door are the sensible preparation.

Maintenance

Wash the exterior and touch up paint chips before rust starts. Check the shutters, the door lock and the window gear annually. Descale the water heaters and shower to the local water hardness. Vacuum the office carpets and mop the vinyl. Test the fire alarms on a schedule. If the cabin stands unheated through frost, drain the water heaters, the shower and the pipework. A steel cabin maintained this way keeps working, and keeps its resale value, for many years.

Delivery

Delivery and off-loading are arranged through our haulage partners to any address, on a flatbed with a crane or a truck-mounted loader. If you have your own transport, the cabin is loaded by forklift at the depot. Tell us the destination, the access and the standing when you enquire. Many more containers, portable offices, toilet blocks and welfare units are currently available; if this dual office container is nearly right, say what differs and we will quote the option or find a closer match.

Is the dual office container new or used?

It is a refurbished unit. The shell has been used before and has been fully refurbished inside and out: flooring, lighting, sanitary fittings, kitchenette, shutters and paint were checked and replaced or refinished as required. It is priced as a refurbished building, well below the cost of the same layout built new, and is described here as it actually stands.

Can each office be locked separately?

Each office has its own internal door off the canteen and can be fitted with a lock. The single external door opens into the canteen, so the building has one secure entrance and two private rooms behind it. If an office needs its own outside entrance, an additional external door is one of the available options.

What services does the cabin need on site?

A power supply for the heaters, lighting, sockets and water heaters; a cold water feed for the kitchenette and the shower room; and a waste connection to a foul drain or a holding tank. Hot water is made locally, so no external hot supply is needed. An electrician terminates the incoming supply under local regulations.

How many people can work in it?

Each office is a closed room with two windows and three double sockets, comfortable for one person with a visitor or two people at facing desks. The canteen seats the wider team for breaks and briefings. As a base for a small firm or a site team it suits two to four office workers plus the crew that uses the canteen and shower.

How is it delivered and moved?

On a flatbed truck with crane or truck-mounted loader off-loading, arranged through our haulage partners to any address. If you have your own transport, the cabin is loaded by forklift at the depot. Because it is a single steel building it can be lifted and moved again when the business relocates, and sold on when it is no longer needed.