News / Snoozebox hotel plan
A COMPANY specialising in temporary accommodation at events and worksites has applied to house 160 construction workers in converted shipping containers at a site on Lerwick’s Staney Hill.
Last month London-based Snoozebox Holdings put in a planning application to Shetland Islands Council for 40 containers to be sited on the 15,000 square metre trailer park north of the former Decca Station off Ladies Drive.
Snoozebox, established in 2011, fit out each container as a four bedroom unit with en suite facilities.
They have a total of 578 separate rooms that they put up at events like Glastonbury Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe and the British Grand Prix, as well as major construction sites like Nigg on Scotland’s east coast and even the Falkland Islands.
The company said they had visited Shetland and held talks with industry representatives about the demand for accommodation in the isles.
The company’s Ian O’Doherty said they always applied for planning permission as a first step before deciding on whether they would go ahead with any project.
Should the council approve of the plan, they would then decide how many containers they would actually site in Lerwick.
“The main reason we’re interested in Shetland is that there is quite a lot of oil and gas activity in the area, which is something we have experience in, and there is a large school being built,” he said.
“From a planning point of view we will hopefully have a positive outcome, but it’s early days yet.”
No objections to the plans have yet been received, though roads manager Brian Halcrow did point out that the site was fed by a narrow road without street lighting that could pose safety concerns if large numbers of workers were living there.
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