Scrapped cruise ships have the potential to be transformed into naturally occurring affordable housing that targets various income ranges says global architecture practice, CallisonRTKL’s Designer, Ibrahim Desooky
As the pandemic took its toll on international travel, there was a rapid influx in cruise ship decommissioning during 2020 that has created a unique opportunity to recycle or repurpose large ships using innovative strategies.
We recently created a report that looked at how they could be used for housing and to investigate an alternative mode of coastal living, taking advantage of scrapped cruise ships as a primary housing structure, using a semi-permanent docking in available harbour spaces.
Our survey conducted found respondents supported the concept with 56% saying they would be happy to lose kitchen space in turn for sea views, with 88% saying they would be interested in living on a repurposed cruise ship.
In 2020, a record number of cruise ships were sold, decommissioned and/or sent to the scrap yard for a multitude of reasons. The Covid-19 pandemic led to a sudden freeze in the cruise industry worldwide, leading to financial losses for major cruise corporations such as Carnival, MSC, CMV and Royal Caribbean.
As a result, these companies were forced to reduce their fleet numbers. In addition, a change to emission regulations by the International Marine Organisation required all vessels to reduce their overall sulphur oxide emissions by 77%.
About half of the cruise ships sold in 2020 were repurposed as short-trip voyagers, ferry boats or permanently docked hotels. The remainder of scrapped cruise ships were sent to ship scrapping facilities, where usable materials such as metals and mechanical equipment were salvaged, while much of the interior elements, such as outdated furnishings and fixtures, were sent to waste.
Across the world, these ships have been turned into Covid-19 response hospitals, permanently docked hotels or cryptocurrency and tech live/work communities.
Can cruise ships solve affordable housing?
In the UK today, meeting housing demand, especially for affordable housing has never been more paramount. It is important that innovative ideas are used to address this. These scrapped cruise ships could be moored in urban cities such as Bristol, Southampton or Liverpool to name a few, and while initial infrastructure costs may be considerable, it could be worth investigating further as to meet the ever-increasing need for sale and rental options. In more rural settings, the homes could be used to revive tired coastal towns while bringing new amenities to residents living there.
With spiralling housing costs in the UK due to rising inflation rates and stagnant wages, many suffer from rent stress, with disproportional amounts of income going towards housing costs. With such a lack of housing affordability and risks from climate change, creative solutions are needed.
Repurposing a ship lessens the material waste and human labour burden that goes into the deconstruction process. At a minimum, the entire steel framing and shell can be repurposed or its interiors can be recycled if conditions allow.
At CRTKL, we would conduct focus groups with coastal and civil engineers and understand locations in terms of depth and wave action in order to highlight potential sites across the UK for this type of housing.
For example, engineering experts believe a docked residential cruise ship would be most conveniently located up-river, or in a body of water that is both deep and passive from a wave activity perspective. While approval to dredge suitable areas to house a former cruise shop is costly, work can be done to enhance environmental conditions as opposed to disturbing what could be protected areas. Even better, docking at existing harbours would avoid the need for dredging or biological disruption.
A permanently docked residential cruise ship would also require infrastructure for power, waste management, fuelling, sewer and other provisions, but these costs could far outweigh the challenges of limited land and soaring land prices.
On board cruise ship interiors
Scrapped cruise ships could offer waterfront housing that is more affordable. Smaller apartments and rooms have the potential for short term leases and with savings made from upcycling the materials, it could offset lower costs in rent and ownership for tenants and residents.
Converting unnecessary rooms usually seen on cruise ships such as casinos or ice-skating rinks could be adapted into an array of community areas including communal dining areas, co-working spaces and leisure facilities – all amenities that residents look for as part of the hotel-style of living they may be accustomed to in a city apartment or Build to Rent developments.
With remote working now becoming the norm, this style of housing could lend itself well to a ship that is moveable between harbours, periodically moving locations potentially attracting residents who are not tied to a particular area. Another possibility would be to allow for short term leases, at monthly intervals, to reduce the commitment required for those who are travelling, migratory, or hesitant about long-term contractual obligations.
A new House of Lords Built Environment Committee report recently stated that by just building extra homes for the sake of new homes numbers, affordability will not be addressed. It suggested that different types of property are essential for meeting the real demand, so cruise ships could offer a new option for the affordable housing market. In the same way that shipping containers have been converted into retail destinations and co-working spaces, why not go one step further?
