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Portakabin |
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A portable building, or demountable building (Australian English), is a building designed and built to be movable rather than permanently located. A common modern design is sometimes called a modular building, but portable buildings can be different in that they are more often used temporarily and taken away later. Portable buildings (e.g. yurts) have been used since prehistoric times.1
The most familiar modern type of portable buildings are designed so that one can be carried to or from site on a large lorry and slung on and off by a crane.
The first known portable building or "knock-down" building was developed by US firm Porta-Kamp in 1955, The first portable building under the trade name Portakabin was built in 1961 in England. "Portakabin" is a trade mark owned by Portakabin Ltd 2 used to identify its range of re-locatable and modular buildings. The description and key words of 'portable buildings' have caused contention amongst manufactures and major manufacturer ‘Portakabin’. ‘Portakabin’ have protected their trade name and argue using a 'c' is a miss spelling.
In Britain the word "portakabin"(trade mark) and "portacabin" are used to describe these buildings. However, spelling with a 'K' is owned by portakabin exclusively for their products. The spelling with a 'c' normally refers to similar temporary buildings made by other companies.
Portable modular buildings have various uses. They are often seen, alone or in groups, as temporary site offices on building sites (where they are often stacked two high with metal stairs to reach the upper level; see also Construction trailer). Other uses for these and other types of portable buildings are as guard shacks, rural offices, on-site changing rooms, etc. Some portable buildings are very complex by joining units these forming large office blocks. (even over several floors). These are often disguised as a normal building often with brick style cladding and a traditional pitched roof. Tara Park developed by Liverpool City Council have even used portable buildings to create temporary/permanent domestic housing for communities complying with UK building regulations and disabily access.
In Australia, the word "demountable" in particular refers to portable classrooms. Due to population increases in many areas, portable buildings are sometimes brought in to schools to provide relief from overcrowding. Portable classroom buildings often include two classrooms separated by a partition wall and a toilet.
 Portable cabin, stacked on two goods containers also used as site cabins. Mere, Cheshire, England. |
 Stack of two portable cabins, Ashley, Cheshire, England |
 A line of portable toilets. |
There are images of portable buildings on these manufacturers' sites:
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2007) |
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