How Do You Plan the Layout of a Container Camp? Space, Services and Safety

The short answer: Plan your container camp from the demand side; don’t start calculating the number of containers. Start with how many workers sleep, wash, eat, and drink. Find footprints that each person would need and convert those numbers to units and area. IFC and EBRD guidelines mention that sleeping space is usually between 4 and 5.5 square meters per person, toilets – from 1 for 6 people up to 1 per 15 persons, drinking water consumption – around 80-180 l/day/man. Calculation of sleeping space is easy; sanitation, drinking water, and catering determine size of the camp.

Start With the Rules, Which Are Patchy

There is no single international law for workers' housing. The IFC and EBRD guidance note on workers' accommodation says so directly: there are no comprehensive international regulations, and the standards it cites are a range of accepted practice. The overall quality of construction, ventilation, fire protection, and occupancy density may be regulated by national and local rules. Examples are given, such as the U.S. regulation on labor camps, known as 29 CFR 1910.142, and the housing regulations in Malaysia and Western Australia.

Thus, the first task in a container camp is to examine the rules applicable in the location of the camp and to consult the local government about their expectations regarding the camp. Everything below is simply used as a planning reference in regard to this answer and nothing more.

The Planning Numbers

The table contains the reference point statistics in the IFC/EBRD document. When a range is provided, the lower end of the range is considered to be the minimum, which indicates that the project may need higher standards.

Item	IFC/EBRD benchmark
Sleeping space	4 to 5.5 m² per person (or 10 to 12.5 m³)
Ceiling height	At least 2.10 m
People sharing a room	Standards range from 2 to 8; single or double rooms preferred
Distance between beds	At least 1 m
Bunks	Double bunks not advisable for fire and hygiene reasons; triple bunks prohibited
Toilets	1 per 6 to 15 people; urinals usually 1 per 15
Handwash basins and showers	1 per 6 to 15 people each
Distance to toilets	30 to 60 m from rooms, reachable without passing through a sleeping room
Drinking water	80 to 180 L per person per day, depending on climate and standard
Canteen space	1 to 1.5 m² per worker
Window area	Best practice: 5% to 10% of floor area
Waste bins	Best practice: about 30 m from each shelter

What The Numbers Mean Inside a Container

The dimensions of a 20ft container are around 5.9 meters long and 2.35 meters wide giving a total area of approximately 14 m². The total area of a 40ft container is double at about 28 m². After wall panels are placed in the container the area is now about 12.5 m² but will depend on the actual design of a container.

Three things to follow:

Calculating Sleeping Capacity Through Division

At 12.5 m², three people in a 20ft unit get about 4.2 m² each, just inside the 4 m² floor. Two people get about 6.3 m² each, which is comfortable. A 20ft unit holding four or more people leaves the IFC range.

Fitting Bunks into Limited Space

The guidance says there should be at least 0.7 to 1.1 m free space from lower to upper sleeping surface, and minimum ceiling clearance above is 2.10 m. In connection with container design where the upper ceiling height is approximately 2.2 to 2.4 m, there is not too much room, even when considering the mattress thickness of upper sleeping compartment. Most designs resolve this issue by using single beds instead of two bunk beds in the container.

Planning Window Placement and Design

For a room measuring 12.5 square meters, the glazing amount should be between 0.6 and 1.25 square meters or 5% and 10% of floor space. Please keep in mind that a container room will have less wall space compared to a regular room so double-check these calculations according to your layout.

Zone The Site Before Placing Units

A container camp works better when it is divided into clear zones instead of one long row.

• Sleeping zone, free from all the hustle and bustle at the job site but relatively near so it does not take much time to travel to it. The IFC instruction states that all living areas must be shielded from noise and emissions. In addition, they should be located in places not vulnerable to flooding or natural calamities.
• Sanitary blocks within 30 to 60 m of the rooms, with separate facilities for men and women, and in cold climates inside the same building as the bedrooms.
• Canteen and kitchen, with the kitchen separate from sleeping areas and wall surfaces near cooking made from fire-resistant materials.
• Admin, first aid and recreation, including a space for rest and a place for religious observance where the context calls for it.
• Services: water tanks, wastewater treatment, waste collection and power, placed so deliveries and tankers do not cross the living areas.

Two more items belong on the drawing from day one. Drainage a drainage scheme across the whole site to get rid of any still water; a breeding ground for disease spreading vectors. Fire safety a fire safety plan for the camp, including a fire marshal with experience in fire safety, and maintenance and drills for fire safety equipment.

How The Camp Type Changes the Plan

ZN House groups its container camp range into military, mining, construction, refugee and customized camps. The type changes what drives the layout.

Camp type	What usually drives the layout	Watch-out
Mining camp	Remote site, long stay, extreme temperatures, often fly-in fly-out crews	Insulation, heating or cooling and supply logistics matter more than speed
Construction camp	Temporary, fast turnaround, crews that grow and shrink	Plan for expansion and for relocating units when the project ends
Refugee and emergency camp	Speed and numbers	Humanitarian situations differ from the standards of workforce housing, such as the Sphere Handbook, thus it is not appropriate to use the IFC numbers as they are
Military camp	Mobility, security, command and storage areas	Requirements are set by the end user, not by workforce-housing guidance
Customized camp	Whatever the brief says	Write the brief in per-person numbers, not unit counts

For larger workforces, the container dormitory page covers sleeping blocks in more detail.

A Worked Example (Illustrative)

This is a made-up scenario to show the arithmetic, not a delivered project. A construction contractor wants a camp for 60 workers using 20ft units. We assume about 12.5 m² of usable floor per unit after lining. That is our assumption, so use your supplier's real figure.

Need	Working	Result
Bedrooms, 3 per unit	60 / 3 = 20 units; 12.5 / 3 = 4.2 m² each	20 units, at the low end of the IFC range
Bedrooms, 2 per unit	60 / 2 = 30 units; 12.5 / 2 = 6.3 m² each	30 units, comfortable
Toilets	60 / 15 = 4 up to 60 / 6 = 10	4 to 10
Handwash basins	Same ratio	4 to 10
Showers	Same ratio	4 to 10
Drinking water	60 x 80 L up to 60 x 180 L	4,800 to 10,800 L per day
Canteen, all seated at once	60 x 1 m² up to 60 x 1.5 m²	60 to 90 m²
Windows per bedroom	5% to 10% of 12.5 m²	0.6 to 1.25 m²

A few points stand out. The water figure alone means a storage and delivery plan, since 10,800 L a day is a tanker load. The size of a canteen lies in the range of sixty to ninety square meters. This means that if all of the people are eating together, the proportion of people is equal to two or three forty-foot units. Shifting meals lead to a decline in the figure, and the numbers of people who use the canteen may change by a factor of 2.5 from the lower to upper limit of the range. That is the reason why local regulation decides on the numbers, and companies do not have anything to do with it. The example does not include other facilities, such as offices, laundry rooms, and recreation areas that will add into the size of canteen.

Questions To Ask a Supplier

1. What are the finished internal length, width and height of each unit?
2. How many people was each layout designed for, and what area per person does that give?
3. How are sanitary, kitchen and laundry units connected to water and drainage, and who supplies the tanks and treatment?
4. How are units fixed together and to the ground, and how are they taken apart and moved when the project ends?
5. If units are flat-packed, how many arrive per container? ZN House says one 40ft can carry parts for three 20ft units. Ask for the packing list.
6. Can the camp be built to up to three levels, as ZN House states for construction camps, and which fire and exit rules does that design meet?
7. What approvals do local authorities need to see before the camp is occupied?

FAQs

How many people can sleep in one container?

In a 20ft unit, two or three, depending on the standard you work to. At about 12.5 m² usable, three people get roughly 4.2 m² each, which is at the bottom of the IFC range, and two get about 6.3 m². A 40ft unit is often divided into several rooms.

How far should toilets be from bedrooms?

The notification by the IFC/EBRD states a range of 30 to 60 m of access without passing through another sleeping room and that toilets should be in the same building as bedrooms in colder climate.

What happens to a container camp when the project ends?

According to the IFC note, plans for dismantling and reinstatement need to be put in place from day one to avoid damage to the land and enable, to the extent possible, the success of the transfer of facilities to the local community. Find out how your supplier plans to carry out the disassembly, transportation, and reuse operations.

Where to look next

ZN House's container camp page lists the camp types and options. For budgeting and configuration, see the Container Camp Cost and Configuration Guide. For the basics of what a camp is, see What Are the Main Types of Container Camps and the complete guide to container camps.

Sources

• IFC and EBRD, Workers' accommodation: processes and standards, guidance note, August 2009
• IFC, Workers' Accommodation: Processes and Standards, publication page
• ZN House, Container Camp solutions page (camp types)

Disclaimer: This article is an educational overview and should not be considered legal, engineering, or construction advice. The specifications for workers' accommodation, fire safety and sanitation are different for each project and each country and the IFC/EBRD document is a guideline only. Consult ZN House, the local authorities and an engineer to find out what rules are relevant in your individual situation before you plan, order, or construct your camp.