Forth Ports loads and unloads about 750,000 containers at its British ports such as Grangemouth in Scotland and Tilbury in Essex, holding goods ranging from cookers and computers to crates of whisky.

Now a few hundred of those empty steel containers - all made in China - will end up as Scottish housing and offices if Forth Ports' plans for Leith take shape. In London, where a small development of container housing is already inhabited, the dwellers are enthusiastic about their unusual living space.

Duncan Munge, 32, a graphic designer whose work has been used by Vodafone and Nokia, moved in a year ago to his fourth-floor workshop at Container City in Docklands. He said: “Imagine two 20ft by 20ft containers with a wall ripped out and put together. That's my place, with a balcony and views overlooking the Thames. All I need is a computer, my desk and a little kitchen with cooker and my bed. When people come to stay they are not sure what to expect but they are always pleasantly surprised.”

Mr Munge pays a rent of £373 a month, which includes a £78 service charge and VAT. His space is small, just 267sqft. The site is gated with 24-hour security. “This is the first place I have lived in, walked out the door and everyone says hello. Eve- ryone is friendly,” Mr Munge says

Mr Munge can be served with three months' notice to quit but he can leave with only one month's notice served on the landlord, Urban Space Management. Rent is reviewed annually for the next five years but the increases are index-linked.

Urban Space Management also built and designed Cove Park, a small artists' retreat made from containers in Loch Lomond. King Sturge, the property agents, notes that in Edinburgh there is a shortage of cheap housing and, increasingly, of small business space as developers convert industrial holdings into housing. Forth Ports may be onto a winner.

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