Hotel prefab sprouts up in East End

26 February 2008

How Tim Payne's module hotel will look in Sclater-st

By Victoria Huntley

A TEMPORARY prefab hotel put together with modules which can be taken down and put up elsewhere is planned for a car park in London's East End.

Architect Tim Pyne wants open Britain's first 'upmarket prefab' hotel at Sclater Street in Bethnal Green by the end of the year, if Tower Hamlets council gives it the go-ahead.

His 'M-hotel' is a new spin on his modular 'M-house' container-style apartment units which slot together to make a block, which was developed in 2001.

He said: "The M-hotel will be made like a series of steel-framed boxes that slot into a frame and can then be dismantled and used for something else."

The entire building can be moved or taken apart and used as separate units for sheltered or temporary housing where it is needed.

The aim is that the M-hotel can provide a place for businesses to house workers for longer than is practical in an average hotel.

If approved, the Sclater Street hotel will include 32 units measuring 16ft by 36ft.

But the building can be made bigger if there's demand for more hotel space, by just adding on more modules.

Work on the M-hotel will start in the summer and be completed by the end of the year if it gets the green light.

victoria.huntley@archant.co.uk