COPENHAGEN Welcome, says an Icelander who recently moved to a new home Hafey Þormarsdóttir22.
– That door on the right is my roommate’s apartment. Here in the middle is the toilet, and here on the left is my home, Þormarsdóttir introduces.
There is a kitchen level next to the door of the apartment. It consists of a sink, a hob and a small shelf. There is a small chest of drawers on one wall. At the back of the room is a large window with a small table in front and a loft bed above.
The window at street level offers a view of the canal arm, with two ships in front of it.
Þormarsdóttir is a dancer and first-year acting student. He says that the ten-square-meter apartment is large enough and comfortable. Some of the friends back home in Iceland don’t believe him when he says he lives in a shipping container.
Like Finland, students in Denmark have difficulty finding affordable housing. A Copenhagen-based company has developed a unique solution to the problem.
We needed an empty lot, a cargo container and a change in the law
Þormarsdóttir’s container home is in the CPH Village student dormitory, which is located next to the old industrial area of Refshaleøen in Copenhagen and the current trendy restaurant area.
The apartments are built from old shipping containers that have been attached to each other.
The project is a typical start-up story of young adults, which started 10 years ago.
The starting point of the company was to create a solution to a social problem. They are related to construction, says the founding member and CEO Frederik Noltenius Busck. Construction causes emissions and waste.
– We looked into the matter and understood that building smaller apartments costs less and puts less strain on the environment.
The entrepreneurs also wanted to add affordable apartments and communal living to Copenhagen. They learned that apartments can basically be built in, for example, old sea containers or train container cars.
– Container apartments could also be moved from one place to another if necessary, and the apartments could be made to look trendy. In addition, they would have a small carbon footprint, says Noltenius Busck.
Copenhagen’s municipal politicians were enthusiastic about the new housing idea because it fit the city’s goal of increasing the number of affordable housing.
However, a change in the law was required so that new apartments intended only for students could be built in the city.
Thanks to the start-up’s successful lobbying work, the Danish parliament changed the law so that the implementation of a new type of student dormitory became possible.
The first apartments went up in Refshaleøen in 2017, and in the following years they started to be built in different parts of Copenhagen.
Today, CPH Village is the capital’s largest private student housing company.
The rent is cheap – but not cheap enough
Danish student living in Refshaleøen Albert Remmer27, says that the container dorm is good for people who like to live in a slightly different environment. According to him, the container home is cozy and warm enough even in winter.
The rent for the studios is around 730 euros. The price includes electricity, heat and water. Danish and other students from EU countries receive an average of 900 euros in taxable study support and 100 euros in housing support.
– The rent is on the upper end, but in Copenhagen this is actually a good deal, Remmer estimates.
CEO Frederik Noltenius Busck says that the rents for CPH Village apartments are 15 percent lower than the average market price for private rental apartments.
In Copenhagen, studio apartment rents vary from around 700 euros to almost 1,000 euros per month. After queuing, lucky students can get a 300-euro room in certain student dormitories.
– But in my opinion, the rents for our apartments are still too high. The rent should be more affordable, Noltenius Busck states.
According to Noltenius Busck, the problem is that the construction loan is expensive and the payment period is short. According to the CEO, the company building new student dormitories does not currently have the opportunity to operate at lower prices.
In Finland, for example, the monthly rents for the Hoas student apartments of the Helsinki region student housing foundation are around 450–850 euros, depending on the size and age of the apartment.
The goal is a small carbon footprint
There are now four CPH Villages in Copenhagen, and two new dormitories are under construction for growing neighborhoods.
The new apartments are no longer recycled containers, but are built from wood.
According to the company, wooden mini-apartments have a smaller carbon footprint and a longer lifespan than container apartments, and they can also be moved.
– Our residents value responsible and communal living near the city center. We should look at quality of life and ecology, not just living quarters, Noltenius Busck emphasizes.
Hoas: Konttikylä does not work in Finland
CEO of the student housing foundation of the Helsinki region Matti Tarhioresponsibility manager Marika Nyyssönen and property manager Kim Lindholm tell by email that the idea of container apartments is interesting.
However, legislation and lack of demand will be an obstacle to mini-apartments in Finland, Hoas management says.
According to Hoas, Finnish law only allows the construction of container-sized cell homes. But students are not interested in cells, and there is already an oversupply of them.
In Copenhagen, the demand for small apartments seems to be sufficient.
Icelander Aldís Ósk Davíðsdóttir24, moved about three years ago to an apartment in CPH Village, located north of the city center in the Nørrebro district.
Ósk Davíðsdóttir says she enjoys having her own peaceful space. On the other hand, if he wants to, he can go cook in the dormitory’s shared kitchen, enjoy coffee in the club room, hang out on the patio or water the plants in the greenhouse. And there’s always something to talk about.
– Of course, responsibility is one of the most essential things in this dormitory. But community is a very important added value.