CitizenM Prefab Hotels Now Provide Affordable Luxury in London and Glasgow

The new prefabricated <a href="http://www.citizenm.com/london-bankside" target="_blank">CitizenM London</a> opened in Bankside this month and next month another will open in <a href="http://www.citizenm.com/glasgow/" target="_blank">Glasgow</a>. Unique in both their modular design and in construction, the CitizenM hotels are focussed on providing affordable luxury, which they accomplish through economies of scale by prefabricating the rooms. Designed by Amsterdam-based <a href="http://www.concreteamsterdam.nl/" target="_blank">Concrete Architectural Associates</a>, the <a href="http://www.citizenm.com/" target="_blank">CitizenM Hotels</a> are edgy and urban and a whole new way to look at the hospitality industry through the eye of lean manufacturing.

Back in 2008, <a href="http://www.citizenm.com/" target="_blank">CitizenM</a> built its first two prefabricated hotels in Amsterdam as an experiment and they took the lessons learned to design and build the next ones in the UK.

They started with the design of the room, the building block of the hotel, which has a king size bed, a pod-like toilet and shower and a sink in the room.

Adjustable lighting, iPad controls and modern stylings give this room the right hint of luxury and practicality.

Each hotel also features plenty of lounge, meeting and work spaces along with a cafe and restaurant.

The rooms were manufactured in a factory in Luton, just outside of London, and they come ready to go, except for the sheets.

When the modular rooms are delivered to the site, they include all the furniture, wiring, plumbing - they just need to be hooked up to utilities, given a final clean and add the sheets.

Each hotel features a traditionally constructed foundation and ground floor with the modular rooms stacked on top like a legos.

Similar in concept to cargotecture, the hotel is made up of these modular building blocks, but unlike shipping containers, these rooms are brand new construction.

"We have way less waste, and we know the number of hotels we're planning to open so can build rooms in huge numbers," says Rob Wageman, principal at <a href="http://www.concreteamsterdam.nl/" target="_blank">Concrete Architectural Associates</a>, in a <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2012/08/play/hotels-that-arrive-prebuilt" target="_blank">Wired article</a>. "That allows us to keep the price of production low."

London Bankside opened earlier this month and the Glasgow hotel opens mid August.

CitizenM has already constructed enough rooms for yet another hotel to be built somewhere in the UK and hopes to expand into New York soon.

Fabrication of the CitizenM hotel rooms.

Inside the factory during manufacturing of the CitizenM hotel rooms.