BBCC’s cool container offices

A VISITOR to the Bukit Bintang City Centre (BBCC) development’s sales gallery at Jalan Hang Tuah, Kuala Lumpur would be greeted by the sight of shipping containers. But these are no ordinary containers. All decked up in glass and a myriad of colours, they have been turned into BBCC’s project office and sales gallery. BBCC is 19.4-acre development with a gross development value of RM8.7 billion on the site of the former Pudu Jail. It is being developed by a consortium comprising UDA Holdings Bhd, Eco World Development Group Bhd (EcoWorld) and the Employees Provident Fund.

“Welcome to our office!” the CEO of BBCC Development Sdn Bhd, Datuk Richard Ong greeted us as we from TheEdgeProperty stepped into the container offices.

“About a year ago, there was a need for an office on the BBCC site for our team working on this project. In line with EcoWorld’s pursuit of innovation and sustainability, we wanted to use a more eco-friendly and sustainable building material. The team also wanted something out of the ordinary. One of our infrastructural engineers, Janice Tan, stood up and took on the challenge on the condition that she be given total authority over the whole construction process,” Ong, who is also the executive vice-president (integrated commercial development) of EcoWorld, shares.

“She is the mastermind of all you see here. Only the construction bit was done by a third party. We did not consult any architects, engineers, interior designers or consultants,” Ong adds.

Cargotecture design concept

“It is important for us to be eco-friendly and use sustainable building materials for this project. We also wanted to have an office with high mobility that could be constructed in the shortest time possible. All in all, it took about five weeks to set up the whole office space,” EcoWorld project engineer Tan (who is also Eco World Development Management Sdn Bhd’s development manager for BBCC) shares.

Tan says that they decided to go with shipping containers as there was a ready supply in the market and they thought it would be a great idea to upcycle them into office spaces.

“After identifying the space required, I came up with the design for the office using shipping container architecture or what some refer to as cargotecture. It is similar to playing with lego blocks, but these are much, much larger blocks,” she adds.

The BBCC office is made up of eleven recycled shipping containers. The 40 footers were modified and now feature large glass windows for ample natural sunlight thus reducing the use of electric lighting. Bright colours were used on the containers to catch attention at first glimpse.

“Each module consists of two containers. We had one long wall cut off for each container which we then combined by bolting them together, creating a larger space of about 640 sq ft. [One container has a built-up of 320 sq ft]. Each module can accommodate 12 workstations including storage cabinets. Currently, we have 46 staff on site,” Tan explains.

“We also insulated the walls of the containers with stone wool fibre to mitigate the sound and heat from outside,” she adds.

Aside from the speed of construction, the contractors also did not have to worry about the weather as they could carry on working on the container offices come rain or shine once the roof had been added.

“Another good thing is that if we need to move, all we have to do is to remove the office furniture, unbolt the containers, and voila! They are ready to be transported to another site,” offers Ong. The total office space now stands at 4,500 sq ft.

Unique interiors

Everyday materials and tools used in the contruction sector were utilised to fit out the office interiors. For instance, a spanner has been turned into a door handle while galvanised pipes were creatively fitted in the bathroom as the toilet paper holder. Sitting down on the high glass table at the gathering area, you may be able to make out the words on the glass describing the capacity of what seems like shipping container specification. “Yes, you got that right, we reused the original side door of one of the containers as a table top,” says Tan.

With so much effort and heart poured into these container offices, it could be assumed that there would be a tinge of sadness when they have to be dismantled. “I am so used to this office. I like it so much that I will certainly miss it when we have to move back to our normal office,” Ong laughs.

This story first appeared in TheEdgeProperty.com pullout on Aug 5, 2016, which comes with The Edge Financial Daily every Friday. Download TheEdgeProperty.com pullout here for free.