Husband and wife upgrade their space to sell coffee and cakes on Bristol Harbour

Husband and wife, Lucy and Dan, have been running an independent café that sells coffee and cakes on the beautiful Bristol Harbour since 2019. They were looking to upgrade their previous cosy café trailer, Trev, into a larger, unique and modern space for customers to order a coffee in a relaxed urban setting.

The couple wanted to create a space that was both functional and aesthetically pleasing and decided a 10ft shipping container conversion was the perfect solution. They first approached us with an artist’s concept image showing the external look. The internal layout and design were still undecided. Following on from a phone call with Lucy and Dan, we were able to talk them through a few of our ideas.

Design Brief:

Once the planning permission was granted, our internal design work began! Taking onboard everything we previously discussed & the artist’s concept, we were able to create our initial designs.

We believe it is important to involve the client in every step of the design, ensuring it meets all their needs. For example, a special request from the couple was to include folding chalkboards, so they could write the menu in a visible area for customers to see.

Even when a client is unable to visit our site, we can offer them a clear understanding of how the finished product will look by creating visionary 3D renders designed by our very own in-house design team. We have invested in state-of-the-art drawing software, this has been a huge benefit to our customers in showing them how their conversion can look before any fabrication work begins eliminating any surprises or disappointments.

Once we had finalised the design, a drawing for manufacture was created and it was time to start the project.

Process:

During the Fabrication stage of the project, we were asked about changing the original internal wall finish to painted OSB. We believe in maintaining regular dialogue with our customers enabling us to build strong relationships so that amendments mid project are never a problem. We were able to send their OSB samples to Lucy and Dan for approval. Once the colour and finish were agreed, it was time to crack on with the internal fit-out.

During the final fit-out stages, our team of experienced engineers worked closely with the client to ensure that their vision was achieved.

Render vs Reality

The café was complete and ready to deliver at the end of the year! Lucy and Dan were overjoyed with their new space. Here is their feedback in their own words – “If you’re thinking of working with Portable Space, do it. We are over the moon with our shipping container cafe. Ian and Jack really listened to our brief and created the exact space we envisioned (if not better!). Being from Bristol, we were worried about not being able to see the progress during the build. However, there was plenty of communication throughout, including samples sent in the post. We changed our minds and added a few extras along the way, but nothing was too much trouble for these absolute legends!”