20ft Expandable Container House with Grey Brick Cladding and Full-Height Glass Curtain Wall

A 20ft expandable container house with a black structural frame, grey brick-look cladding on the closed elevations and a full-height glass curtain wall across the front. It ships folded to 2200 mm wide, opens to a 38.2 m² floor, and is delivered with the glazing, the openable vent panel and the interior linings already fitted at the factory.

The two elevations that stay solid are finished in a grey brick-profile panel, so the unit reads as a small building rather than a box with cladding. The front and the returning corner are glazed floor to ceiling in black aluminium, with the mullions set out on a regular grid and the perimeter picked up by the same black frame that runs around the module. The result is a hard, dark outline holding a large area of glass — which is why it suits a garden studio, a café frontage or a sales suite better than a standard white container does.

As with every expandable unit in this range, the structure is a galvanised steel frame with removable sandwich panels. Nothing is welded on site, no concrete slab is needed, and the module can be folded back down, lifted onto a truck and moved to another plot when the lease or the site changes.

The 20ft expandable is the middle size in the range and the one most buyers settle on: half the footprint of a 40ft unit to tow, but enough floor for a proper room once the slides are out. Two units travel in a single 40HQ, so a pair can be shipped for the cost of one container load.

The figures below are the standard configuration. Window positions, the extent of the glazing, cladding colour and interior layout are all made to order, and every order is confirmed against a drawing before production.

Weight is for the standard configuration. Glazing area, internal partitions and fit-out change the figure, so the shipping weight on your order is confirmed with the drawing.

The front elevation is a glazed screen rather than a wall with windows in it. Black aluminium profiles are set out on a grid, the glass runs from the floor line to the underside of the top rail, and the whole screen sits inside the black perimeter frame of the module. Because the frame and the glazing are the same colour, the unit holds one continuous dark outline from the ground to the roof line.

Factory assembly: full-height glazed screen in black aluminium, set inside the black module frame.

Two practical points that come out of building it this way. First, the glazed screen is a factory-assembled unit — it is glazed, sealed and tested before it leaves the plant, so site work is limited to bolting the panels into the frame. Second, the screen is independent of the sliding sections: the slides carry the solid brick-profile elevations, and the glass front stays on the fixed body. That is what allows the unit to fold to 2200 mm without the glazing having to come apart.

The closed elevations are finished in a grey brick-profile panel. It is a steel-faced composite panel pressed into a brick bond pattern, not a brick slip and not a printed film, so the relief is real: you can run a hand across it and feel the courses and the recessed joints. At a few metres it reads as brickwork; at a metre it reads as a metal panel that has been profiled, which is honest to what it is.

The reason to use it is weight and maintenance. A genuine brick slip system on a container wall adds load and needs a carrier board; this panel does the same visual job at the thickness of a standard sandwich panel, keeps the insulation value of the wall, and can be repaired by replacing one panel. It is also available in other colours on request, but the grey on black is the combination we would choose for a contemporary building.

1. The folded module arrives on a flatbed or in a container, lifted off by forklift or crane and set down on piers, blocks or a prepared slab.
2. The roof sections are raised and locked into position — this is the step that gives the unit its full width at the top.
3. The two side sections are pushed out on their tracks until the floor panels drop into place and the walls are vertical.
4. The joints are closed, the corner trims fitted and the services connected. From delivery to a weather-tight, usable room is a matter of hours with two or three people, not days with a crew.

No cutting, no welding and no wet trades. The electrical and plumbing runs are pre-installed in the walls and floor, with connection points brought out to the outside of the module, so the site work is a matter of connecting, not installing.

The structure is a Q235 hot-dip galvanised steel frame in 2.5–3.0 mm material, with 6 mm liner plates at the corner castings — the points that take the load when the unit is lifted and when it is stacked. External walls are 75 mm EPS sandwich panels, with rock wool available as an alternative where a fire rating is required. Internal partitions are 50 mm EPS.

The roof is 0.35 mm corrugated colour steel over 50 mm EPS with a 200-type ceiling panel below. The floor is 18 mm fireproof magnesite board finished with 2.0 mm PVC, with a 4.0 mm SPC upgrade available. Windows are PVC sliding units as standard; on this configuration the front is the aluminium glazed screen described above, and the openable panel within it is an aluminium awning sash.

A fully glazed elevation is the right answer for daylight and for the look, but it is the wrong answer for air movement if nothing in it opens. That is why the screen includes an awning panel: a top-hinged sash inside the grid that opens outward, so the room can be ventilated without leaving a door open and without losing the line of the facade.

Detail: the openable awning panel set within the glazed grid, shown with the protective film still on the sash frame at the factory.

In hot climates the same detail matters more than insulation values. A glass wall with no opening traps heat; with one panel open at the top and a door at the other end, it draws. If your site is in a hot, humid or coastal location, tell us at the quotation stage — we can add further openable panels, specify a solar-control glass, or add an external shading blade above the screen.

The unit is delivered as an open plan shell with the walls, ceiling, floor, wiring and switch drops in place. It is not sold with furniture, and we would rather say so than photograph somebody else's interior. What you get is a clean, square, 38.2 m² room with the glazed elevation on one side and the solid brick-profile elevations on the other two — which is a straightforward space to fit out as one room, or to divide into a room plus a service core.

Layouts we have quoted most often for this configuration: a single studio room with a kitchen run along the solid wall; an office with a meeting corner; a café or bar with the counter facing the glazed front; and a guest room with a bathroom pod in the rear corner. Send us a plan and we will return a layout with the partition positions marked, so you can see what fits before you commit.

Garden studio or annexe — the glazed front faces the garden, the brick-profile sides face the neighbours.
Café, bar or kiosk frontage — the glass screen does the job of a shopfront, and the black frame gives the unit an edge at street level.
Site or sales office — glazed front for a shop window, solid sides for desks and storage.
Guest room or short-stay unit — one large room, with the bathroom pod and services at the rear.
Showroom or display space — the glass wall is the display, and the module can be relocated between sites.

Two 20ft units load into one 40HQ in the folded state, which is the number that decides freight for most buyers. Each unit is wrapped and braced for the sea leg; the glazed screen is protected separately because glass is the part that fails in transit if it is not restrained properly.

We supply the packing list, the assembly drawing, the electrical diagram and the material certificates with the shipment, and we can attend a video inspection of the unit before it is loaded. If you are buying against a tender specification, we will mark up your specification clause by clause and state where our standard differs, rather than leaving you to find out after the container arrives.

Is the glass front included in the price?
The glazed screen shown is the standard front for this configuration. If you need a different extent of glazing — for example a solid panel with a window — the price comes down; if you want glass on two elevations, it goes up. Both are quoted from a drawing.

Can it be used in a cold climate?
Yes, with the wall specification changed. The standard 75 mm EPS wall suits temperate and hot climates; for cold or for a fire rating we specify rock wool, and we will tell you which one your location needs rather than quoting the cheaper one by default.

How many units fit in a 40HQ?
Two 20ft units in the folded state, at 3.4 tons each in standard configuration. A 10ft unit loads four to a container.

Does it need a foundation?
No slab is required. The unit sits on piers, blocks or a prepared hardstanding, levelled and with the load points under the corner castings. We send a foundation layout with the order.

Can it be stacked?
The frame and corner castings are designed to take a second level, and we quote two-storey configurations regularly. Stacking needs the structural check for your wind and seismic load, which we do at quotation stage.

Is the brick look real brick?
No. It is a steel-faced composite panel pressed into a brick bond profile. It gives the relief and the shadow lines of brickwork at a fraction of the weight, and it is replaceable panel by panel.

How long is production?
Standard units run on a production schedule quoted per order; for a multi-unit programme we give a weekly output figure with the offer so you can plan the site programme against it. We do not subcontract the modules out, so the schedule is our own.

Can we inspect the factory?
Yes. You or your third-party inspector are welcome at the plant, and we will arrange the units for inspection at the stage you choose — frame, panelled shell, or finished and glazed.