Shipping Containers
Shipping containers have a limited life expectancy to other buildings. Whether the shipping container is a building depends on its intended use.
A container can be considered a building if
- the purpose of the container is to store hazardous substances or gases as defined in regulations made under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, or
- a container is on a property for any other purpose and is temporary or permanent, movable or immovable, including structures intended for occupation by people, animals, machinery or chattels.
A container on a property (other than a freight forwarding company) to temporarily store household goods until a house is built is an outbuilding with a specified intended life.
Some considerations that make it more likely to be a building
- if the purpose of the container is not for transporting goods
- if the container came from a company that repurposes containers
- the longer the container has been or will be on site
- dependant on what is in the container – eg if it has gardening tools hanging on the walls.
For more information and examples see our guide on shipping containers [PDF, 302 KB].