From Empty Lot to Open Doors in Months - Temporary Shelters
Every so often a project comes down to a simple question: how fast can people get indoors?
That was the situation on a recent temporary shelter we delivered for BC Housing. A coastal community had lost its only emergency shelter when the building it occupied was sold. The space had never been purpose-built for sheltering in the first place, it was a commercial unit that staff had made work through sheer effort. When it closed, there was nothing to replace it, and people spent a winter living rough while a new option was found.
Conventional construction couldn’t answer that need on the timeline it demanded. Modular could. Here’s how the project came together, and why this kind of work sits squarely in what modular does best.
A purpose-built shelter, not a converted space
The call was for a 40-bed temporary shelter with everything a shelter actually needs: secure sleeping areas, accessible washrooms with showers, laundry, a dining area for daily meals, and staff office space. Working with the operator, the layout was built around an open, communal bunk configuration. That decision is what got the bed count to 40 and the whole building was designed through an accessibility lens for a client population that includes people with mobility challenges.
Rather than fabricate new modules from scratch, we sourced a five-module building through our network of fabrication partners and renovated it into a purpose-built shelter. Sourcing and adapting existing stock, instead of waiting on a new fabrication run, cut both cost and lead time, and lead time was the constraint that mattered most.
Turning separate modules into one building
On their own modules are just boxes, making them a shelter takes site work. We added site-built floor and roof panels between the units to form connecting corridors, and a timber-framed vestibule to link the sleeping wing to the office and dining facility. Renovations delivered accessible, lockable single-occupant washrooms, slip-resistant flooring, HVAC modifications for full occupancy, and a fuel conversion for the heating system.
The building sits on a pressure-treated block foundation anchored for wind and seismic loads. Life-safety came first: an interconnected fire alarm, full sprinkler coverage, and tamper-resistant hardware, all reviewed and validated with the Authority Having Jurisdiction before the doors opened.
Delivering it, and self-performing the install
All modules and equipment were barged in rather than trucked, and the installation was self-performed by our own Red Seal carpenters and plumbers, not subcontracted general labor. That matters on a compressed schedule: a single crew that owns the install, coordinating directly with the trades around it, closes the coordination gaps that stretch timelines on multi-party builds.
We delivered the project turnkey; design, engineering, permitting, AHJ liaison, module sourcing and renovation, transport, installation, site servicing, and commissioning, all under one point of accountability. When the clock is the client’s biggest problem, one team owning the whole scope is the fastest way through it.
Built to move again
One more thing set this project apart. The shelter was always understood to be a stopgap while a permanent supportive-housing facility gets built. So we engineered it to come apart, the modules can be dismantled and relocated for future use once the permanent building comes online. Nothing here is throwaway. The same assets can serve the community again and again.
Where modular wins
Modular isn’t the right tool for every building. But for emergency shelters, where the need is immediate, the site is often hard to reach, and the facility may need to move later, it’s hard to beat. This project went from award to a finished, occupied shelter in months, roughly a year after the previous space closed. Every month of that timeline is a month sooner people had a safe, warm place to come inside.
That’s the case for modular in one sentence: the time you save is measured in nights people no longer spend outside.
Tasu delivers temporary emergency shelters across British Columbia, from design and retrofits through installation and demobilization. By sourcing and reusing existing modular assets rather than building new, we help municipalities and housing agencies stand up shelter faster and at lower cost.
It’s a circular-economy approach: assets are put to work, then dismantled, relocated, and redeployed when the need move, keeping them in service instead of the landfill, and stretching public dollars further each time.
If your community is facing a shelter gap, we can help.
tasu.ca | 604-239-4155
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