Pre-production  ·  three founding sites for 2027

Tropical form.
Temperate engineering.

Demountable bamboo structures for eco-resorts, glamping estates and boutique retreats across the UK and Europe. No concrete. No excavation. Assembled on slabs laid straight onto the ground.

Request the spec pack See the range

Internal area

48 m²

Excavation required

None

Concrete poured

None

From

£28k / unit

Why bamboo, for operators

Guests pay a premium for a building they've never slept in before.

Timber pods are a commodity. A curved bamboo structure is the photograph that fills your booking calendar — and the reason a guest pays £90 more a night for the same square metres.

RATE UPLIFT

A structure that markets itself

Architectural units command higher nightly rates and shoulder-season occupancy that standard cabins don't reach. The building becomes the listing photo.

CAPITAL

Lodge looks at pod money

A fitted 48 m² unit with kitchen and bathroom starts at £38,000 — roughly what a well-specified timber pod half the size costs. The rate you can charge is not half.

GROUND

Nothing is dug, nothing is poured

The structure sits on slabs laid directly on topsoil. No excavation, no foundations, no wet trades. Lift it and the field is a field again — which is exactly what a landowner, a tenancy and a planning officer all want to hear.

The range

One structure. Two specifications.

A bamboo frame under a tensioned marquee canopy, sitting on slabs. Take it as a weathertight shell and fit it out yourself, or take it complete. Same frame, same crew, same maintenance regime either way.

Design study · not a photograph

Specification 01

Canopy 48 — Shell

Frame, walls, canopy roof and deck. Weathertight and structurally complete, ready for you to run services and fit out to your own brand standard.

  • Internal48 m²
  • StructureBamboo frame
  • RoofMarquee canopy
  • BaseSlabs on grade

From, per unit£28,000

Design study · not a photograph

Specification 02

Canopy 48 — Complete

The shell plus a fitted kitchen and bathroom. Arrives as a trading unit: one bedroom, open-plan living, wraparound deck.

  • Internal48 m²
  • KitchenFitted
  • BathroomFitted
  • Sleeps2 + 2

From, per unit£38,000

Design study · not a photograph

Multi-unit

Grove Cluster

Six to twenty-four units with shared arrival, bathhouse and covered walkways, laid out on your site survey. Phased so the first units trade while the rest go up.

  • Units6 – 24
  • MixShell / Complete
  • LayoutTo survey
  • DeliveryPhased

Volume pricingOn application

Indicative starting prices · exclude slabs, utility connections, transport and VAT · quoted per site

The obvious question

Cold isn't the problem. Damp is.

Frost does nothing to bamboo. Standing water, splash-back and trapped moisture do — and that is a detailing problem, not a climate problem. Four decisions solve it, and all four are visible in the building.

Get the technical pack
  • PestsBoron treatment throughout. Boron salts remove the starch content that insects and fungi feed on — the reason untreated bamboo fails and treated bamboo doesn't.
  • RainWide eaves on every elevation, so rain is thrown clear of the walls instead of running down them. The single most important detail in a wet maritime climate.
  • GroundRaised platform on slabs laid on the topsoil. No member touches wet ground, and the void underneath drains and dries.
  • AirDesigned-in ventilation under the deck and through the roof void. Moving air is what stops moisture sitting in a joint long enough to matter.
  • RoofTensioned marquee canopy over the bamboo frame — the same fabric specification the events industry leaves outdoors through a British winter, and replaceable in a day.
  • SeasonSpecified for three-season trading as standard. Talk to us before you plan on January occupancy — we'll tell you honestly what the unit needs.

Unit economics

Work out the payback before you call us.

Move the sliders to your own trading assumptions. We'd rather you arrive at the first call with a number you trust than one we handed you.

Set occupancy against your real trading season, not a full year. A three-season unit at strong summer occupancy often lands nearer 45–55% annualised — and at this capital cost, that is still a short payback.

Capital outlay£228,000
Gross revenue / yr£202,575
Net contribution / yr£131,674
Simple payback1.7 yrs

Simple payback on capital only. Excludes land, groundworks, utilities, financing and tax. Not a financial projection or investment advice — use it to frame a conversation, not to underwrite one.

Consents

A structure that isn't a building.

Nothing is excavated, nothing is poured, and the whole thing can be taken down and moved. That puts our units on a different footing from a permanent lodge — and opens routes a lodge simply cannot use.

  • StructurePlanning law weighs size, permanence and physical attachment to the ground when deciding whether something counts as a building at all. A demountable frame on slabs sits at the favourable end of all three tests.
  • ReversibilityBecause there are no foundations, the site can be returned to its prior condition. That matters enormously on green belt, AONB, agricultural tenancies and temporary consents.
  • Seasonal useWhere units come down out of season, the temporary-use allowances in English permitted development rights may apply. The limits are strict and vary — worth checking properly before you rely on them.
  • The catchBe clear on this: putting paying guests on land is usually a material change of use, and that needs planning permission whatever the structure is made of. A demountable unit improves your case. It does not remove the application.
  • IncludedScaled site and unit drawings, elevations and sections, plus the layout on your survey — issued in a format your planning consultant can submit.
  • Your sideA local planning consultant, and any ecology, access or flood-risk work the authority asks for. We'll tell you what we think applies before you spend money on it.

General guidance, not planning or legal advice. Rules differ by authority and by country.

From call to keys

A typical site, stage by stage.

01

Site & feasibility

We look at access, ground conditions, orientation and your target guest. You get an honest yes or no.

Week 0

02

Unit mix & concept

Model selection, layout on your survey, and a fixed-price proposal against a defined scope.

Weeks 1–4

03

Consent package

Drawings, structural calcs and certification issued to your planning consultant for submission.

Weeks 4–10

04

Off-site fabrication

Frame, envelope and joinery built and dry-assembled in the workshop, then flat-packed for transport.

10–14 weeks

05

Assembly & handover

Piles, frame, envelope, fit-out and commissioning by our crew. O&M manual and maintenance regime issued.

5–9 days / unit

Where we actually are

Colibu is pre-production.

Everything on this page is a design study. We have not yet delivered a unit, and we're not going to imply otherwise.

We're selecting three founding sites for the 2027 season. Founding partners get first-build pricing, direct input on the unit specification, and a fully documented prototype — in exchange for being first, and for letting us photograph the finished thing.

If you need a delivered reference site before you commit, tell us — we'll come back to you when we have one, and we won't waste your time in the meantime.

Apply as a founding site

Start here

Tell us about the site.

The more you give us, the more useful the first call is. We reply within two working days, or we tell you it isn't a fit.

Direct +44 7467 545458
+359 896 100 806
hello@colibu.com

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