A swimming pool manufactured by the Toulouse-based company Soniga from recycled shipping containers. – Soniga
- A few years ago, the conversion of maritime containers into houses was all the rage, especially among environmental activists.
- This idea gained ground and is nowadays adapted to the construction of swimming pools.
- A young company in the agglomeration has been manufacturing urban basins from these recycled containers since October.
A few years ago, the concept of houses made from old shipping containers was raging. A green idea recently recycled for the development of swimming pools, and which has taken hold of a young company in the Toulouse metropolitan area.
“I discovered the concept when I was in Australia. My brother wanted to build a swimming pool but couldn’t frame it. During the first confinement, I submitted the idea of the container to him and we talked about it to Nicolas, our swimming pool friend, ”says Sofien Sahli, one of the Soniga co-founders.
This is how they created their first prototype, from a used container stored in Castelnau d’Estretefonds and resin produced in Escalquens. They transformed this metal tank into a swimming pool, incorporating wood finishes. In the process, they created their company, seeing the emergence of a market for these urban basins, easy to install on small areas of gardens in town.
The post-containment boom
“For models of less than 10 m2 of surface, the administrative constraints are less important and do not require for the moment a building permit. And once manufactured in our workshops in two weeks, all that is needed is for the earthwork to be done. No need to have work for months, ”pleads the entrepreneur.
With confinement, requests for swimming pools have exploded, and their basin responds to the urban constraints of small spaces, but also to the more ecological inclinations of urbanites. Thus, in addition to recycling maritime containers, to test them, its creators take water from a retention basin located next to their workshop, which is continuously recycled.
To afford the first model of less than 10 m2 in area – buried or not, with a small beach or not – you will still have to pay 16,500 euros. Not to mention the earthwork for those who want to bury it, and the delivery. “But for a masonry swimming pool, it is 35,000 euros, and there are waiting times and the duration of the work”, highlights Sofien Sahli.