A resource consent application has been lodged with Lakes Environmental by QBox Ltd to use recycled shipping containers as visitor accommodation on Bowen St.
The former Bush Creek Health Camp site has been the subject of repeated applications for visitor and worker accommodation - none of which have been built.
Now, QBox is hoping an idea to put up to 140 beds in 70 refurbished shipping containers for backpackers and low-budget travellers will be approved by the consent authorities.
Project manager Peter Crow said the containers cost between $3000 and $4000 each.
"But there is a lot more cost in order to make them liveable," he said.
Measuring 2.35m by 13m, the containers would be fitted with en-suite bathrooms, windows, doors and an outdoor patio area.
Some would be "motel style" units with more facilities, while others would be more like "hotel rooms", the application stated.
An existing residence would be converted into a communal area with a kitchen and laundry, and there would also be allowance for workers to live there for up to three months.
Mr Crow said he had a converted container as a holiday home in the Bay of Islands.
"I spent a very comfortable summer there with my family," he said.
The idea has already met with some approval from Queenstown Lakes District Council's urban design panel.
"At first glance, this proposal seems unlikely," the report stated.
"But the logic of the low-cost building type, the intended . . . clientele and intent to market the 'container village' image as a fun, temporary place to live promises to overcome possible objections."
Mr Crow said using the containers was also "green".
"Otherwise they would just go to landfill," he said.
The concept includes restoration of an overgrown "English garden" on the site and retention of mature trees and further planting of native trees.
Unlike in previous development plans for the site, there would be no negative effects to Bush Creek, which runs through the property.
