Nakaseeta Academy

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Call with Darren: 6 October, 2010 |

Wed, 2010-10-06 06:30

DG meeting with Hayley and Jessica on Sunday
and UK chapter

wall and ring beam are up
building trusses on site

BT improving design and structural template on other sites
BT has committed to building other blocks (1 more block with current design)
DG has set out foundation for 2nd block

DG will be in NY for Design Like You Give a Damn LIVE! on 14th
heading to airport as we speak (5:30 pm local time)

###

Weekly Update #25 October 2, 2010 | darrengill

Mon, 2010-10-04 04:20

Weekly Update #25 October 2, 2010

Personnel:

Darren Gill (DG) / Architecture for Humanity (AfH)
Gretchen Mokry (GM) / Architecture for Humanity (AfH)
George Srour (GS) / Building Tomorrow (BT)
Joseph Kalisa (JK)/ Building Tomorrow (BT)
Jimmy Luyirika (JL) / Building Tomorrow (BT)
Jumba Ciprian (JC) / Building Tomorrow (BT)
Paul Kimera (PK) / Technology for Tomorrow (T4T)

Site:

Walls and ring beam are complete with all strapping in place for wall plate and trusses. Truss fabrication underway.

ISSB Production has ceased. Local crew still not around and T4T no longer involved.

Material procurement – roof timber only delivered Wed so will not have roof complete as hoped before DG leaves. Roofing sheets have been ordered with Roofings. Sample window now ready – DG to view Monday. DG to follow up with paint colours and window finishes.

First drainage channel nearly completes. Side channel and area under roof overflow still need to be dug. Or rain water goods included.

Pit Latrine: dug and awaiting materials/labour to complete.

Schedule:

We are 3.5 weeks behind schedule.

Due to late delivery of timber and some slow work on site the full roof structure will not be complete before DG leaves. Pushing to get 2 bays complete before DG leaves.

Workforce/Local Community Labour:

From the local community a few boys have been helping out this week.

Building Committee is formed but not active. Registration, school tours, advertising etc have not happened yet.

Handover:

DG issued template drawings. Contract and training manual still outstanding.

Group of local architects were on site Wed and Sat to inspect work – this will continue to the end of the build.

BT have given go ahead to build one more block to the current spec. Remaining blocks will be the VE version.

Other Business:

Running account – DG will try to update before he leaves – needs updated account from BT .

Weekly Update #24 September 25, 2010 | darrengill

Sat, 2010-09-25 00:02

Weekly Update #24 September 25, 2010

Personnel:

Site:

Walling is ongoing – finished this weekend. Truss fabrication due to begin Monday.

ISSB Production – local crew have not been on site the last 10 days or so. 2nd machine being operated by separate crew from T4T – making about 420 ISSBs/day. Have started buying soil from nearby latrine excavation.

Material procurement – material due Fri/Sat was not delivered so truss fabrication postponed. Hopefully delivered Monday.

Finishes - sample window quote was too high – JK currently getting alternative quotes. Roof sheets will be brick/clay red as per images distributed. DG to follow up with paint colours and window finishes.

First drainage channel nearly completes. Side channel and area under roof overflow still need to be dug. Or rain water goods included.

Pit Latrine: dug and awaiting materials/labour to complete.

Schedule:

We are four weeks behind schedule.

All parties aware of short timeline. Expect full roof structure and half the roof covering with solar chimney ceiling complete before DG leaves Uganda.

Ring beam complete this week. Truss fabrication begins next Monday (27th). Roofing sheets to ordered Tue (28th) and put up simultaneously with ceiling from Thur (30th) onward.

Workforce/Local Community Labour:

From the local community only one lady and a child have been on site this week helping to carry bricks and mix mortar. This is a concern in terms of ISSBs for the subsequent blocks and basic labour needs, e.g. collecting water.

Building Committee is formed but not active. Registration, school tours, advertising etc have not happened yet.

Handover:

DG to issues revised template drawings Monday. Contract and training manual still outstanding.

DG met with Enoch and issued his feedback to BT.

Group of local architects were on site Wed and Sat to inspect work – this will continue to the end of the build.

BT also want BoQ for the VE design and waiting on Nakaseeta construction cost figures before deciding what specification to build subsequent blocks to. DG trying to find a QS who will do this pro bono but unlikely to be resolved by the time he leaves.

Other Business:

DG giving presentation at Makerere University this Wed .

Mpigi – approval of drawings from Ewan and BT received but now also need BoQ before construction can start. Hoping Robert Matabo (contractor at Mpigi can do this)

Weekly call: 21 September, 2010 |

Tue, 2010-09-21 08:52

Weekly call: 21 September, 2010

Attending:

Gretchen

Darren

Hayley

George

Joseph

Satu

Jessica

Construction Update:

steel is in the right place

rest of walls will be finished by Friday

will pour ring beam Saturday

trusses will go up Tuesday / Wednesday

will put in order for roofing sheets Tuesday morning

will build ceiling and roof simultaneously

figured out truss strapping details

Windows:

sample window is being fabricated and can be picked up on Thursday

windows can be painted

DG asking fabricator for other types of finish options

if it is not painted it will rust

Gifford team would like a bright color, yellow

there is money in the budget to render and paint the walls white on the inside

Roof:

DG advises red roof; team in agreement

will be a corrugated roof

Classroom Block:

will not be completely done

1/2 of the roof (3 or 4 bays) should be fully complete

windows will be lined up

bldg will not be plastered

local team will keep an eye on things, every Wednesday or Saturday

foreman, Bangale, will be on site until the first block is completed

he is a mason and a carpenter

Bangale will help with the selection of the timbers for the roof

He's very proactive

He will be on site full-time until this project is complete

goal for completion: end of October at very latest, DG to confirm

Budget:

Actual total cost: 39 million Ugandan shillings for 2 classrooms, including tools for the site shelter and site toilet (which can be defrayed over the entire cost of the school) labor and materials

Joseph: may be under budget, should know total adjusted cost by Friday next week

about 17,000 USD for 2 classrooms

Mpigi classroom is the stripped version of the design ... the bare minimum that can be constructed. Total cost there is unknown at this time. DG estimate for an entire school design (stripped down version) would be 55,000 USD, not including the cost of the land

Future plans:

Architecture for Humanity and Gifford strong encourage BT to use 1 of the 2 designs that have been developed (preferrably the Nakaseeta version. OR the Mpigi design)

concern is really how this will be taken forward

Building Tomorrow plans to keep everyone in the loop with developments

DG: it is important for the Nakaseeta project to continue and be seen through as quickly as possible

Joseph: plan is to continue making brick blocks and keep the momentum, and hope is that DG can help make the foundation set-out for the other blocks before he leaves

DG: this set-out is critically dependent on which school design is selected, a decision is needed here

George expects a decision on this by the end of this week

Building progress:

quality of bricks is really good, very solid

the building looks beautiful in its context

when the roof goes on, it will be so dramatic and beautiful

Other:

DG to leave Uganda at the end of September / early October

George will travel to Uganda the weekend of September 9

Joseph: Gretchen, thank you for your visit and all your encouragement

###

Site Visit Report by Sendi Kajumba September 18, 2010 | skajumba

Tue, 2010-09-21 02:26

Site Visit Report by Sendi Kajumba September 18, 2010

Members on site:

Darren Gill (DG) / Architecture for Humanity (AfH)

Hamza Sebaggala

Sendi Kajumba

Benard Mpora

Walling underway –

with much better workmanship compared to the last site pictures, thanks to the Bongole the new Masson on site. He comes with a lot of experience with the ISSB bricks. It’s advisable he stays until all brick works are done in order to maintain the attained quality.

ISSB Production –

a new team has been brought to site replacing the locals who had been trained to make them. This team of younger and experienced guys from the contractors’ camp should bring more speed to the production. (My personal concern still remains on the handling and stacking of the ISSBs given this rainy season. Curing better be done in a shade while stacking be done with spaces for air circulation between stacks). Paul should advise on the way forward on this.

Drainage channels –

these will become an issue when the roof is put on and planning needs to be done to that effect. This should be in line with the whole landscaping plan specific to this site.

Workforce –

This comprises of local community labour for the assistants (porters) on site while the masons are part of the contractors’ resource pool including the regular crew.

Workmanship issues –

the new brick layer on has tried to correct and make better the brickworks. We hope he stays to overlook the rest of it.

Schedule –

I need clarification on the schedule but other factors remaining constant, Saturday25th should see all brickwork done with at least trusses up (it goes without mention that the rainy season tends to slow down works, let’s hope it does not rain a lot this week).

Weekly Update #23 September 20, 2010 | darrengill

Mon, 2010-09-20 03:55

Weekly Update #23 September 20, 2010

Personnel:

Site:

Walling is ongoing – workmanship issues and site procedures dragged into this week and work was suspended briefly. This is now resolved and we have a new foreman.

ISSB Production – very slow as regular crew from the local community were not on site much of last week. 2nd machine now being operated by separate crew from T4T.

Material procurement – all materials for ring beam on site. Truss material due on site this week. Roofing sheets due next week. DG, JK and JL are in close contact to ensure this runs smoothly. DG and JK to get sample window fabricated this week. DG to inspect colour options for roof.

Drainage channels: small section dug Friday – hopefully continue this week.

Pit Latrine: dug and awaiting materials/labour to complete.

Schedule:

We are three weeks behind schedule.

All parties aware of short timeline. Expect full roof structure and half the roof covering with solar chimney ceiling complete before DG leaves Uganda.

Ring beam complete this week. Truss fabrication begins next Monday (27th). Roofing sheets to ordered Tue (28th) and put up simultaneously with ceiling from Thur (30th) onward.

Workforce/Local Community Labour:

Over the past 2 weeks the number of local community members coming to work on the site has been decreasing. At this stage there is no-one coming to the site regularly every day. This is a concern in terms of ISSBs for the subsequent blocks and basic labour needs, e.g. collecting water.

Building Committee is formed but not very active. Registration, school tours, advertising etc have not happened yet.

Handover:

DG issued procedure and calendar schedule for pre-construction and during construction to BT. Revised drawings, contract and training manual still outstanding.

Meeting with Enoch postponed to tomorrow, Tue.

Hamza, Robert, Sendi and Bernard met JK and GM last week. Inspected work on site Saturday and will post updates to the OAN shortly. DG briefed and discussed detailed design/construction to ensure they can take over inspections.

BT waiting on Nakaseeta cost figures before deciding what specification to build subsequent blocks to.

Other Business:

Justus, Assistant Commissioner from the Ministry of Education, was on site Monday – very impressed by quality and strength of the ISSBs being produced.

Gretchen was in Uganda last week – met Joseph, Apollo and Jimmy on site.

Mpigi – still waiting to hear back from Ewan.

Weekly Update #22 September 10, 2010 | darrengill

Fri, 2010-09-10 07:25

Weekly Update #22 September 10, 2010

Personnel:

Darren Gill (DG) / Architecture for Humanity (AfH)
George Srour (GS) / Building Tomorrow (BT)
Joseph Kalisa (JK)/ Building Tomorrow (BT)
Jimmy Luyirika (JL) / Building Tomorrow (BT)
Dan Andabati (DA) / Building Tomorrow (BT)
Jumba Ciprian (JC) / Building Tomorrow (BT)
Paul Kimera (PK) / Technology for Tomorrow (T4T)

Site:

Walling underway – had problems with worksmanship and several course had to be taken down. PK and DG have inspected demonstration wall and agreed to proceed. Will now be plastering externally to 8 courses. Hopefully complete by Monday.

ISSB Production – slow this week but ticking over. 2nd machine not operational due to insufficient labour.

Material procurement – materials due on site today will be delivered Sat/Mon due to problems with money transfers from the US. This is not a problem for construction.

Drainage channels: have not started due to insufficient labour. Fortunately the work to the road has helped here.

Pit Latrine: dug and awaiting materials/labour to complete.

Contract/Legal Matters:

District: Received confirmation of approval. Done.

Workforce/Local Community Labour:

Regular crew are still around. A few other people have been helping out here and there. The general atmosphere has improved a lot with Paul’s crew on site and more visible results in construction.

Schedule:

We are two weeks behind schedule.

Workmanship issues this week have added slightly to delays.

Handover:

DG to meet JK on Monday to go through handover in detail. Procedures to be issued to GS for consultation meeting on Tue.

DG to meet and conduct informal interview with Enoch – possible replacement for Dan.

Hamza, Robert, Sendi and Bernard (group of local architects) introduced to the team and keen to get involved. Due to meet JK today but postponed hopefully to Monday.

Other Business:

Training: took place on Wed – all BT staff attended and manual distributed to the team and on the OAN.

Assistant Commissioner from the Ministry of Education will be on site Monday morning.

Mpigi – still waiting to hear back from Ewan.

Gretchen arrives Tue 14 around 2pm – DG to meet her at the airport.

Weekly Update #22 September 10, 2010 | darrengill

Thu, 2010-09-09 23:34

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Nakaseeta weekly call: 7 September, 2010 |

Tue, 2010-09-07 11:09

Nakaseeta weekly call: 7 September, 2010

Attending:

Darren Gill

Gretchen Mokry

Satu Jackson

Update:

Gretchen in Kampala on Tuesday 14th, arriving around 2pm

will meet DG in Kampala that day; will go to site Wed / Thursday

currently in Cape Town

DG has meeting with Joseph and George this evening re: handover of project

making good progress w walls, see photos on the OAN

would like better workmanship -- Paul sending out expert to help

have enough bricks

not using 2nd machine for brick-making; no men to operate it

DG thinks roof will be on by the time he leaves, October 6

contract signed with Paul and BT

Biggest concern: handover

biggest technical difficulty (especially re: handover) is solar chimney, hoping to work on part of this while the roof is going up

Upcoming training session:

going through build phase by phase to explain step-by-step building process

group of local architects has agreed to step in and help / participate

they cannot be there for the training session, however

DG has had detailed conversation with them ... they're very experienced

DG to send manual to team (he prepared this)

Local architects/volunteers:

can we define roles for each of them?

DG would like to formalize this on some level

would like one or two of them to visit site each week, take pictures during visits and upload them on the OAN

DG to review OAN with volunteer architects over lunch on Friday and show them how it works

team will meet Joseph for first time on Friday

Architecture for Humanity Chapter:

DG emailed Frederika ... she sent forms to be filled out to volunteer architects

AfH waived registration fee

Gifford timeline:

would like to request 2nd visit ...

sounds like Gifford's main interest is post-occupancy analysis

would be ideal if Gifford could come before the end of the year ... before full completion in order to oversee some construction details: windows, doors, plastering and some elements of solar chimney -- OR after construction

would like to discuss visit at some strategic point

biggest issue is remaining 3 blocks and remaining site work that would have to be done to finish the project (landscaping, steps, approach, etc.)

BT has not indicated any time-line for completion of the other 3 blocks

###

Weekly Update #21 September 3, 2010 | darrengill

Fri, 2010-09-03 09:58

Weekly Update #21 September 3, 2010

Personnel:

Darren Gill (DG) / Architecture for Humanity (AfH)
George Srour begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting (GS) / Building Tomorrow (BT)
Joseph Kalisa (JK)/ Building Tomorrow (BT)
Jimmy Luyirika (JL) / Building Tomorrow (BT)
Dan Andabati (DA) / Building Tomorrow (BT)
Jumba Ciprian (JC) / Building Tomorrow (BT)
Paul Kimera (PK) / Technology for Tomorrow (T4T)

Site:

Walling started today – set out (first 2 courses are complete). Delayed start to ensure ISSB production will not delay construction later on. PK expects brickwork to finished end of next week.

Slight delay getting second machine operational. Now have 5700 ISSBs on site. Paul’s crew produced 600 bricks in 2 days and the local community are now producing 300/day.

Material procurement is now running more smoothly. Roofing material postponed to next week. DG to confirm orders with JL. Accountability tracking is update to Aug 16 and on the OAN (only visible to the team) – subsequent tracking is in hand and will follow as BT produce internal accounts. Slab required a lot more material than anticipated.

Drainage channels: have not started due to insufficient labour. Fortunately the work to the road has helped here.

Pit Latrine: dug and awaiting materials/labour to complete.

Contract/Legal Matters:

Contract: Signed and stored on the OAN (only visible to the team).

District: Awaiting confirmation this has been approved.

Workforce/Local Community Labour:

Regular crew are still around. A few other people have been helping out here and there. The general atmosphere has improved a lot with Paul’s crew on site and more visible results in construction.

Schedule:

We are two weeks behind schedule.

Took the delay due to ISSB production before walling started rather than interrupt masons later on.

Handover:

DG will leave Uganda Oct 6th as planned. DG / JK / GS currently going through handover checklist to ensure everything is tied off by end of Sept.

DA no longer works for BT and the search is on for a replacement to be involved in handover. DG will work with existing BT staff and (hopefully!) a group of local architects to ensure supervision at Nakaseeta is maintained.

Other Business:

Training: next session to happen Sept 8th. Hoping the Assistant Commissioner from the Ministry of Education will be on site same day.

Mpigi – DG issued construction drawings to BT – currently with Ewan for review as part of new BT procedures.

call w dg |

Tue, 2010-08-31 10:40

not laying walls, waiting for bricks, will start on fri
brick production will keep pace w wall construction

Weekly Update #20 August 27, 2010 | darrengill

Mon, 2010-08-30 00:06

Weekly Update #20 August 27, 2010

Personnel:

Site:

Slab is complete and curing. Poured over 2 days due to shortage of labour and water – incurred extra cost of keeping machines on site for 2 days. Bricklaying to commence Mon.

Paul’s crew ready to make bricks – waiting on 2nd machine to be operational – should be working on Sat. Brick production ceased during work to the slab due to labour necessity. 4000 ISSBs on site. We need 6000.

Some of the material due on site Fri 27 was delivered today – the rest will hopefully arrive next week. Additional sand and aggregate was delivered at short notice. DG now has accountability statements wand will try to catch up and track material use and costs.

Drainage channels: have not started due to insufficient labour. Fortunately the work to the road has helped here.

Pit Latrine: dug and awaiting materials/labour to complete.

Contract/Legal Matters:

Contract: Got approval from BT’s lawyers but no idea what they changed if anything. DG to review line by line.

District: Drawings and documents were submitted to the district (all files on the OAN) and have been approved by the engineer, planner and health inspector. Waiting on copy of the land agreement for final approval.

Workforce/Local Community Labour:

10 members of the local community were working on site Wed but unfortunately this was the only day with increased numbers.

Building committee has been set up. Registration began on Friday.

Schedule:

We are one-two weeks behind schedule.

Will hit delays due to ISSB production.

Other Business:

Training: next session to happen Sept 8th.

Gretchen will be in Uganda Sept 14-18th.

Nakaseeta weekly call: 24 August, 2010 |

Tue, 2010-08-24 10:59

Nakaseeta weekly call: 24 August, 2010

Attending:

Joseph

Darren Gill

George

Gretchen

Satu

Update:

will take 1 day to pour slab and needs to cure for 2-3 days before walling starts

about 1 week behind schedule in the moment

will hit ISSB-related delays in about 10 days / 2 weeks

probably about 2 weeks behind schedule overall, completion was set for end of September (reaching 2 weeks into October)

Paul's crew will work on brick production this week to minimize delay

DG still needs additional community help with this, however

Materials:

does have everything needed on site

DPM (damp proof membrane for underneath slab) will be on the site tomorrow, according to Joseph

more materials are due on site on Friday

what is being ordered and what is being delivered are two different things

tracking this nearly impossible for Darren

Joseph will send purchase orders to Darren by email this evening

Contract:

Joseph has received digital copy from lawyers

DG awaiting digital copy of this so he can see what has changed

this needs to be finalized ASAP this week

Labor:

site labor is ongoing issue

4 men working on site today ... but no one else is forthcoming

immediate concern: carrying water to pour the slab tomorrow

community mobilization is just not in place ... not seeing results in terms of getting more workers on the site

Joseph asserts building committee is in place; Jimmy gave Joseph the names

Jimmy and Jumba will be on site tomorrow; Jumba on Thursday; Jimmy on Friday

Building Tomorrow training session:

foundation training session: Joseph recommends this happens at another site: Mpigi

DG: not possible to do this at Nakaseeta, as this is already complete. agrees with Joseph

next training set for September 8: walls and ring-beam training at Nakaseeta

###

Weekly Update #19 August 22, 2010 | darrengill

Mon, 2010-08-23 00:48

Weekly Update #19 August 22, 2010

Personnel:

Site:

Backfilling, hardcore, aggregate, sand blinding in place. This took longer than expected. Formwork and steel starter bars being fixed. Slab pour to take place Tuesday.

Some of the material due on site Fri 13 and Fri 20 was delivered on 19/20 in varying quantities. It has become almost impossible to track material use due to deliveries not corresponding to orders and DG still has no access to BT accountability statements. Tracking costs is not possible without accountability statements.

Drainage channels: have not started due to insufficient labour. Fortunately the work to the road has helped here.

Pit Latrine: dug and awaiting materials/labour to complete.

ISSB Production: approx 3,700 ISSBs on site. Production was stalled from Fri 13 to Wed 18. 2nd machine is on site but not operational. DG recommends getting Paul’s crew to make bricks to reduce delay we will hit.

Contract/Legal Matters:

Still awaiting final approval from BT’s lawyers.

Still awaiting confirmation from BT as to whether the drawings and documents have been submitted to the District.

Workforce/Local Community Labour:

No one from the local community was on site Fri-Wed. 3-4 people are now back making bricks but no additional labour has materialized. JC still confident that if someone goes door-to-door we can get more people but no-one is doing this.

Building committee, school registration, school tours, advertising etc (all strategies discussed and agreed for mobilization) have not happened .

Schedule:

Work was very slow this week. We are one week behind schedule.

Will hit delays due to ISSB production.

Training:

First session (foundations and slab) was held Wednesday on site. Unfortunately only JK and Apollo were present. DG and DA distributed first part of the building manual.

DG willing to hold further sessions but need involvement of the entire BT Uganda team.

Other Business:

Mpigis sketch approved. DG to work up drawings and issue next week.

Fortnightly call this Tue 24th.

Nakaseeta Weekly call: 17 August 2010 |

Tue, 2010-08-17 08:59

xxx

Weekly Update #18 August 13, 2010 | darrengill

Fri, 2010-08-13 04:23

Weekly Update #18 August 13, 2010

Personnel:

Darren Gill (DG) / Architecture for Humanity (AfH)

George Srour (GS) / Building Tomorrow (BT)

Joseph Kalisa (JK)/ Building Tomorrow (BT)

Jimmy Luyirika (JL) / Building Tomorrow (BT)

Dan Andabati (DA) / Building Tomorrow (BT)

Jumba Ciprian (JC) / Building Tomorrow (BT)

Paul Kimera (PK) / Technology for Tomorrow (T4T)

Site:

Concrete strip and plinth wall foundations are complete. Vertical DPM is in place and back filling underway. Hardcore to be laid over the weekend. Steel and formwork to be fixed Mon/Tue. Slab pour Tue/Wed next week.

Remainder of materials requested was purchased and delivered by DG. BT to reimburse asap. Subsequent order due on site yesterday/today. DG and BT have agreed new procedure to hopefully ensure no more delays are caused due to material procurement.

Drainage channels: have not started due to insufficient labour.

Pit Latrine: dug and awaiting materials/labour to complete.

ISSB Production: 3,400 ISSBs on site. At current rates this will delay construction by 3-4 days. 2nd machine is in Kampala but has not been delivered to site. Will need additional local community labour to operate this machine, or PK’s crew can be used.

PK and DG met on site to inspect work Thur. DA and DG met on site Fri to inspect work and review steel design for foundations/slab/columns. Everyone’s happy!

Contract/Legal Matters:

Contract approved by BT, T4T and AfH. Awaiting final approval from BT’s lawyers.

Labour figures agreed with PK.

Awaiting confirmation from BT as to whether the drawings and documents have been submitted to the District.

Drawings uploaded to the OAN, awaiting copy of completed forms.

DG issued Written Change Order #1 and Cert of Payment #1 on Monday Aug 9.

Workforce/Local Community Labour:

Local community back making bricks with same 4/5 man crew. JC was going door to door this week but unfortunately no additional community members have been working on site.

Paul’s crew currently back filling trenches.

Schedule:

Lost 3 days this week due to lack of materials (2) and chasing the workers to return to the site (1). T4T working through the weekend to catch up.

Will lose more days if materials due on site last Friday are not delivered today.

Other Business:

GS and Bob (BT Board of Trustees)departed Uganda on Wed.

DG and DA currently working on Mpigi design/drawings. To be distributed later today.

BT training: Part One (foundations and slab) to be held next Wed (18th) on site in Nakaseeta and attended by all BT staff in Uganda.

The District Speaker (who addressed the ground breaking ceremony) fulfilled his promise to improve the secondary track from Nakaseeta to Namataba. This has significantly improved travel around Nakaseeta and the local community are very pleased.

Conference Call Notes: August 10, 2010 |

Tue, 2010-08-10 11:05

Conference Call Notes: August 10, 2010

Attending:

Hayley

Chris

Gretchen

Satu

Joyce

George

Joseph

Darren

Update:

plinth walls nearly complete. will be completed tomorrow

slab to be poured over weekend or Monday

lost today and yesterday on site

hope to catch up with labor

community labor: operating with same 5 or 6 guys

Jumba (spelling?) hopes to get more from tomorrow onwards

Legal:

drawings have been stamped and approved

forms have been filled out

waiting to hear back from BT lawyers re: contract

will send by end of Friday

still waiting on revised labor rates from Paul

DG will continue to chase this

other option: Darren to send revised BOQ and get Paul's sign-off

Contractor payment:

BT to arrange protocol for making payment

Darren to confirm % complete before any payment is made

Gretchen to send examples of payment request

Site construction, key elements:

community labor for bringing water to site, making bricks, toilet, back-filling trenches

materials ... problems with this for the last 2 weeks, they have not been dlivered on time. hope to have resolved this

ISSB production. hav 3000 at the moment. within 1 week, need 5.5 - 6000. at the moment, this will delay construction

Brick-making machine:

2nd machine will be on site tomorrow, but would need 4-500 bricks per day starting tomorrow or Thursday to stay on schedule

with current pace of things, this will delay by about 3-4 days in about 2 weeks

only need 10 day cure time to start using bricks

this is factored into calculation

Foundations:

has Dan seen these? Dan was on site last last Thursday. He inspected trenches and looked at plinth walls as they were going up.

Dan is happy with the progress to date.

DG will keep in close contact with Dan about this.

Rebar is going from slab into columns, but rebard is not connecting slab to footings.

GM and Jessica would like to look at this

DG to send images Wednesday or Thursday

Gifford fundraiser:

Building Tomorrow received Gifford fundraiser money. Will be put toward Nakaseeta.

Weekly call:

will change call to twice per month, ie: no call next week

SJ to send invites

internal BT call will still be weekly

DG to continue weekly update

SJ to have weekly call with Darren on off weeks

###

Weekly Update #17 August 8, 2010 | darrengill

Sun, 2010-08-08 02:45

Weekly Update #17 August 8, 2010

Site:

First installment of materials requested was delivered on Monday.

Trench excavation is complete. Concrete strips and plinth walls are nearly complete.

Awaiting remainder of materials requested (cement, sand, steel) to complete foundations.

Drainage channels: have not started due to insufficient labour.

Pit Latrine: dug and awaiting materials/labour to complete.

ISSB Production: 2,600 ISSBs on site. Local community were due back Friday following a death in the village. Need at least an additional 2,000 bricks within the next 10 days. From Monday 9 Aug onward we need 300 bricks to be produced every day (6 days a week) to ensure construction is not delayed.

Contract/Legal Matters:

Contract approved by BT, T4T and AfH. Awaiting final approval from BT’s lawyers.

Still awaiting revised labour figures from Paul.

4 blueprint copies of the approved drawings with all details required were issued by DG to to JK/GS on Thursday. Nearly completed forms (need some info from land title deeds) were issued by DG to JK and Stephen on Thur.

JK/Stephen to submit to District asap – hopefully last Fri or this Monday.

DG to upload final submission to the OAN.

Transpires the drawings prepared and printed by Gifford in March following consultation with the previous architect of record were not submitted to the District. Much confusion and uncertainty as to why this didn’t happen but will be resolved by the current submission.

DG to issue Written Change Order #1 and Cert of Payment #1 on Monday Aug 9.

Workforce/Local Community Labour:

Local community were making bricks last Monday but have been in mourning this week. We need brick production to recommence immediately and require in kind labour to back fill the trenches. Paul’s crew are available to do this if the local community cannot be mobilised.

AOB:

GS and Bob (BT Board of Trustees) are in Kenya and will be back on site Tue/Wed.

Piers can remain as they were – no need to move wall or make piers larger. Dan and DG agreed half bricks as per original design are ok if bricks are cut while wet.

Conference Call Notes: August 3, 2010 |

Tue, 2010-08-03 11:04

Conference Call Notes: August 3, 2010

Attending:

Satu

Darren

George

Darren

Joseph

Jessica

Update:

work ongoing

community switched from digging trenches to brick making

Paul's crew completed trenches today

James' father died last night, community work halted for few days. Team sends condolences to James

hit pure bedrock at 2m below ground

put in concrete beam under party wall tied directly to slab

will be cheaper and faster

James will be back on Thursday

ISSB coursing:

wall moved to middle of pier

piers moved out slightly

DG trying to make piers slimmer, as this will also make windows harder to fit in, though the windows are still the same size - DG to send proposal to Dan and work through this

size went from 425-550

1/2 bricks messy; 3/4 bricks preferable

Gretchen to send sketch to DG as well

Contract:

not yet signed, awaiting feedback from Building Tomorrow lawyers

Paul's BOQ is not revised for negotiated labor rate -- DG to chase Paul for this

Legal submission:

got forms from architect of record

quite detailed

some of them are planning submission documents

DG investigating this tomorrow

Weather:

no rain

Other:

GM: DG, can you credit new architect of record on OAN page. AfH will include this in newsletter -- DG to send information to Sarah

George returns from Uganda next Wednesday

Chris and Farah were going to go to Uganda, but stayed due to lack of funding/too much work. Hope is that next year, Hayley and Jessica and Chris and Farah could come out for post-occupancy evaluation / visit

Mpigi

DG and Joseph surveyed existing foundation

hoping to start construction ASAP

some foundation work required; going to construct brick piers

1st building is going to come down - will not see any more concrete columns (as these were not tied into brick work)

DG hoping to find time to work on drawings for a few hours

###

Weekly Update #16 August 2, 2010 | darrengill

Tue, 2010-08-03 04:48

Weekly Update #16 August 2, 2010

Site:

Foundations: trenches almost complete – will be complete by Monday. Hit bedrock in a few trenches. Dan inspected trenches Friday and agreed to redesign the foundations. Darren to instruct Paul on this.

Drainage channels: have not started due to insufficient labour.

Pit Latrine: dug and awaiting materials/labour to complete.

ISSB Production: stalled due to insufficient labour.

Paul’s crew will be on site Monday morning to take over construction.

Materials were due on site Friday. Jimmy assures they will be on site early Monday morning.

Contract/Legal Matters:

Contract approved by BT, T4T and AfH. Awaiting final approval from BT’s lawyers.

Drawings reviewed and complete except latrine detail needs to be added. DG to sort this Mon/Tue.

Forms received from AoR – DG to complete. JK to provide copy of land agreement.

Will submit to the District this week.

Dan briefed as probable Project Coordinator on future BT projects.

Workforce/Local Community Labour:

Last Monday had 2/3 more people on site and 4/5 more on Tue. Unfortunately Wed, Thur, Fri was back to regular 5 man crew. All labour was focused on digging trenches. Local community now refusing to finish foundation digging but back making bricks instead. Jimmy working on phasing different groups of workers for different tasks.

Paul’s crew are on site finishing the foundation digging and will pour concrete strips Tue.

Mpigi:

Survey complete. DG to produce drawings for work to start asap.

Dan briefed, willing to help with the redesign and supervise construction .

AOB:

George arrived in Uganda on Friday. Met with Joseph, DG and Bob (BT Board of Trustees) Saturday and were all on site Monday .

x |

Tue, 2010-07-27 12:22

xx |

Tue, 2010-07-27 11:48

Conference Call Notes: July 27 2010 |

Tue, 2010-07-27 10:56

Conference Call Notes: July 27 2010

Attending:

Farah

Gretchen

Darren

Satu

George

Joseph

Site work update:

temporary shelter complete

toilet waiting to be finished; work halted for now

community started digging trenches for foundations yesterday with DG and James

10 people on site today; 7 or 8 yesterday

estimated completion for trenches for foundations: Friday

Brick production has halted in interim as trenches are critical to Paul's crew being able to start work on site

hoping to have Paul back on site on Monday to pour foundations and start construction

Of critical importance is ensuring community labor is steady on site

Off site update:

contract has been agreed upon. waiting for Paul's confirmation. Will then send contract to Building Tomorrow lawyers for review. May have to add clause for up-front payment for mobilization.

Drawings:

drawings should be ready for final clarification tomorrow

DG targetting submission by end of week

Community involvement:

Joseph has asked another staff member to assist with community mobilization at least once or twice a week

Community women who otherwise would defer their family's involvement are now helping with seeving soil and brick making

Joseph optimistic that at current rate, trenches will be complete on Friday.

confirms target date for completion of trenches is Friday

Jimmy has agreed with community that they should be mixing 2 bags of cement per day, for average of 200 bricks per day. previous average: 150.

Team also working on drainage from road - hoping women will be able to work on this.

Dan will be on site on Friday to look at drainage around foundation from road

DG: drainage channels should have been complete 3 weeks ago, ideally. These need to be completed in order to prevent flooding of trenches during rains.

Brick schedule:

will need 6000 bricks, per Paul's estimate

currently have 2,000

DG: at 200 per day for 3 weeks, 6 days per week we will keep pace with construction

DG: completion of drainage and trenches by Friday is realisitic with current crew.

Rain:

heading into rainy season

normally does not happen until September

every other day, there will be an hour of 2 of rain. will not stop work for full day, but may make access very difficult. main roads will become inaccessible.

working on moving main items to site. if soil and bricks are too wet, production will be halted. so materials will need to be kept dry.

Paul construction site:

Paul is planning to make trusses on site. GM: does he have access to warehouse or workshop to fabricate the trusses? (idea of tandem work off-site during potential rainy days) GS: issue then becomes transportation of trusses to site. DG: will be easier to make trusses on site.

Building Tomorrow team:

community mobilization will be spearheaded by Jimmy with support by Jumba, 1-2 days per week.

George heading to Uganda on Friday. will be there almost 2 weeks, also in Kenya. planning on 10 days in Uganda.

Next week call:

George, Joseph and Darren will try to be in one place for team call. Will advise as to suggested timing of call. SJ to coordinate.

###

Weekly Update #15 July 25, 2010 | darrengill

Sun, 2010-07-25 03:44

Weekly Update #15 July 25, 2010

Site:

Temp Shelter: completed.

Pit Latrine: dug and awaiting materials/labour to complete.

ISSB Production: ongoing. No news about second machine.

Foundations: awaiting community labour to commence digging.

Contract/Legal Matters:

DG met with Paul to review contract. Revised version approved by BT and AFH. To be sent (Monday) to BT lawyer for final approval.

DG and JK met with new Architect of Record, Stephen Lubowa (Proman – Project Management and Engineering Consultants), to review/clarify requirements for official approval by the District. See separate update for details. DG to make adjustments Monday and submit to Mukono District Council.

Workforce/Local Community Labour:

Meeting with 3rd village took place Friday – waiting to hear results/outcome.

Paul wants his team back on site asap and is willing and able to mobilize his team wiithin 3 days to be back on site and dig/lay foundations.

Mpigi:

Wed site visit postponed due to illness. Rescheduled to Tue July 27th.

AOB:

AFH have been invited to contribute to the You Tube/Ridley Scott documentary ‘Life in a Day’. Filming is ongoing till Mon/Tue.

Meeting Notes, July 23 2010, Building Tomorrow Offices, Kampala | darrengill

Sun, 2010-07-25 03:41

Meeting Notes, July 23 2010, Building Tomorrow Offices, Kampala

Attendance: :

Darren

Joseph

Stephen Lubowa (Arch of Record) - Proman – Project Management and Engineering Consultants

Background:

Previous Architect of Record (Siza – AEP Integrated Design) has been MIA for the past month so a new practice have been asked to take over.

Meeting was to review the construction drawings and clarify and changes required for submission to the District for legal approval.

Stephen is an engineer, not and architect, but represents the practice that will stamp the drawings for final approval.

Procedure:

Four blueprint copies of the drawings + title deeds/land agreement to be submitted. Drawings must be stamped and attributed to the Architect of Record in the title block.

District Fees/Charges: calculated based on area and program = approx 1,000 UGX/ sqm + development fee + VAT. Exact figure to be confirmed by the District.

Approval generally received within 1 week – can commence construction before getting approval.

May need official stamp from a structural engineer if building has complicated structure – we do not need this.

Comments:

Line weights need to be adjusted to improve legibility.

Need set out lines on site plan.

Need site location plan showing main road, local roads, local villages, local landmarks etc, i.e. how to get to the site. Does not have to be to scale.

Strip construction and structural details out, i.e. foundation roof and lintol plans, details etc. Excessive detail will only encourage more questions from the authority.

Truss could/should be redesigned: purlins at 1.2m centres and struts fixed perpendicularly to purlins. (DG – I will confer with Gifford on this.)

Steel needs to be labeled correctly.

Next Steps:

Stephen to forward title block to be incorporated into drawings.

DG to adjust drawings (Monday) and print blueprints (Tue/Wed) for submission.

Conference Call Notes: July 20, 2010 |

Tue, 2010-07-20 10:46

Conference Call Notes: July 20, 2010

Attending:

George

Darren

Satu

Site:

still making bricks

about 150 per day

community seems motivated to continue

Pb: no one else is coming to site, only 5 or 6 steady guys

no one is digging foundations

Jimmy is having a lot of meetings, but no one is responding

Contract:

meeting Paul on Thursday to review concerns / objections

waiting to meet architect of record (MIA)to review drwgs, contract and submit drwgs to council

Joseph said he has an alternative recommendation for the architect of record

Drawings:

meeeting Dan tomorrow to review issb course layout

also to be reviewed by arch of record

Labor challenge:

Biggest issue is labor on site

There is no formal building committee in place

no agreement with local community as to what they are supposed to be doing

Joseph disagrees and posits community is stepping back from responsibilities

Another problem might be Darren on site (perception there is more money)

More involvement at this stage unlikely

Quick fix: Darren manually finishes toilets and foundations himself

Paul BOQ quotes 250 USD to complete this

George very frustrated. Has not encountered this before. concerned from long-term standpoint.

GS: Not open to paying community, at face value. But does leave this call in Joseph's hands. Joseph under NO circumstances will agree to pay local community. Does not believe this is in line with Building Tomorrow ethos.

pb now due to misunderstanding that local community was going to get paid; but then this in not the case. Jimmy has been successful in getting a small crew back on site ... but that is all. If anyone is paid, it will be Paul.

Discussion:

Days where most work is done is when Darren is actually working on site. Continuing this might be enough to keep things going right now.
Another idea: posters/publicity about school. Issues are deeply rooted. Momentum is lacking. meeting with chairman, community meetings, and paying workers are the suggested solutions by community. paying Paul to do work instead may breed resentment in community.

DG recommendation: would begin by paying local guys to do work. If we have to pay someone, it should be them. The only sweat equity involved is digging foundations and making bricks. Everything else is priced in the BOQ. This is just a big hump we have to get over to start the project. need 20,000 bricks and community is NOT able to keep going at current rate; not sustainable.

GS: this does address the short-term. What is the implication of this over the long-term?

DG: the core group will spawn sustained interest in the school. community will always be proud of school if it is built well. agrees with paying people for work. does NOT think it undermines community ownership of project. what is worse is if community is not involved in the construction at all. would like to see them involved as much as possible ... even as masons, through Paul.

GS: not adverse to considering payment. but concerned that if it comes through Paul ... that would very much alter community perception of project and Building Tomorrow, in negative way.

DG: it's difficult to have a policy towards sweat equity. if you are going to do it, you need to get on board early and really foster that relationship. paying through Paul is a nice way to go, it's on a business footing, rather than charity or aid. pitch has always been you're "expected to do this" rather than asking community if they're willing to be involved.

GS: Training for a trade could be another legacy of the school.

George, Joseph and Darren speaking this evening about this. DG will send update to team

Site visit by Paul:

workers did not show up with tools, though they were supposed to

DG got the tools then; cost will be taken out of labor fee

set-up was not completely accurate; measurements were off

Paul was not directly involved; DG suspects things will run smoother when he is

crew will come back to site when foundations trenches are complete

###

Weekly Update #14 July 16, 2010 | darrengill

Fri, 2010-07-16 08:32

Weekly Update #13 July 8, 2010

Site:

Temp Shelter: roofing material arrived Thur – to be completed on Monday. All material (except nails and papyrus roof mats) and labour provided for free by local community.

Pit Latrine: dug and awaiting materials/labour to complete.

ISSB Production: recommenced Thur – being carried out for free by local community. Second machine due on site next week.

Set out: complete – awaiting community labour to commence digging. Paul’s crew were on site Wed/Thur.

Schedule: we are 4 days behind schedule.

Contract/Legal Matters:

BT & Paul agreed final contract sum of 9.1 million UGX for labour, profit and supervision of block #1.

Just received feedback from second lawyer – DG to amend and Paul to sign early next week.

Darren to meet Siza (Arch of Record) early next week to submit construction drawings and clarify any outstanding issues.

Workforce/Local Community Labour:

Meeting with 3rd village still needs to take place – Building Committee still to be finalized.

The core team from the local community (5-6 men) have agreed to make ISSBs for free again. These men have done all the work on site to date and made a significant contribution to a project they believe in, however, they cannot continue to work full time for free. Wider community involvement is required to give this team time to do work elsewhere, and to carry out other labour requirements on site – finish the shelter and toilet, dig the foundations and drainage channels.

Mpigi:

AFH, BT and Gifford have agreed to build the stripped version at Mpigi – DG, JK, Dan and Jimmy to visit Mpigi on Wed to assess practicalities and get construction started. DG to schedule one visit every 2 weeks. Dan to be main supervisor on site.

AOB:

Material procurement and accounting procedures agreed between DG and BT. DG to issue material requirements to Jimmy via email and allow 5-7 day lead time. DG and Jimmy issued petty cash allowance to cover immediate needs as they arise. Actual quantities and costs, as purchased and used, to be logged in a running excel file and posted to the OAN.

Kampala Bombings: 2 bombs went off last Sunday night during the World Cup Final and killed 74+ people. All BT staff and Darren are fine. Increased security is now evident – particularly ahead of the African Union summit in Kampala next week – but it’s business as usual across the city.

Isaac is over from Nairobi and was on site Thur to say hello.

Conference Call Notes: July 13, 2010 |

Tue, 2010-07-13 12:23

Conference Call Notes: July 13, 2010

Attending:

Gretchen Mokry

Satu Jackson

Darren Gill

GS and Gifford cannot make call. Joseph did not pick up call.

Update:

Darren ok after Kampala bombing
brick making will start on Thursday at the earliest.
Community will not donate labor for certain things: incl. brick making

Today 8-9 people were on site to build shelter. Tomorrow will finish shelter, put on roof and dig foundations. Had to pay gentleman that built the toilet. There are certain lines where things simply have to be paid. Bricks are one of them.

having Paul pay workers presents challenge because of additional supervision charges. It seems better for the payment to come directly from building Tomorrow. Jimmy meeting with community today.

DG meeting with Joseph tomorrow 4pm

Budget:

Paul will be on site at 8:30 am tomorrow to lay out the foundations
negotiation conclusion: 9.1 M for labor, supervision and profit for 1st block (total contractor sum). material cost is 33M, covered directly by BT. DG to confirm and enter in contract.

GM: DG, please continue to track budget

DG to send additional info

moving forward with proposal / request for stripped down version of design at Mpigi. GM to run by Cameron and Kate. Foundation walls already exist, but no slab.
The idea is it would be useful to go through construction with local staff -- especially as this is the design BT may replicate in the future. DG to visit site infrequently ... 3.5 hours away. Dan could monitor.

###

Halfway // Half Full | darrengill

Mon, 2010-07-12 10:32

“Everything is somehow fine” – the mantra on site most days. Even when things sometimes clearly aren’t fine, the guys I work with in Nakaseeta are a very optimistic crew.

And everyone’s enthusiastic – it’s a bizarre mix of pride in realizing this will be their school (the “Miracle School” as it’s jokingly referred to) and opportunism – most of the men in Nakaseeta are casual labourers at best and subsistence farmers by default, trying to grow some coffee on the side to sell for 25 cents a kilo. Coupled with the reality that many of the kids in Nakaseeta don’t go to school because their parents can’t afford the $50 a year tuition fees, there’s a lot of pride, enthusiasm and optimism floating around.

We’ve all been learning together - firstly there was the new ISSB technology which at this stage I think the local crew are now better than me at making these bricks. And we’ve been figuring out how to work together – trying to understand each others expectations, personalities and what each individual can bring to the project.

But there’s also been a lot of frustrations. - delays (perhaps better described as a misunderstanding of when 8am is), communication, efficiency and working conditions have all been issues we have and will continue to improve upon. However, in this game that’s par for the course and so that optimism becomes really important as we all lift each other out of the problem and get on with it.

The next few weeks will be exciting - behind the scenes many people have been drawing, counting and scheming to make sure every dollar works harder for us while ensuring the people of Nakaseeta have a school we can all be proud of and as a result we finally got the green light to start construction. Thank you all! The anticipation has been building – from local parents to American high school kids (who fund most of Building Tomorrow’s projects), boda boda drivers to team members sitting behind computers in the UK and US, everyone is delighted to finally be “in construction”. Now the real fun begins…

Team call: 9 July 2010 |

Fri, 2010-07-09 11:01

Team call: 9 July 2010

Attending:

Joseph

George Srour

Darren Gill

Gretchen Mokry

Satu Jackson

Joseph / DG update re: contract negotiation:

140M UGX budget assumes removal profit and supervision line items

current quote is 148M UGX

this is a labor only contract, so material percentages do not apply

DG: removal of material profit percentages would bring price to 141 or 142M UGX

GM: is there any duplication of front-end costs that could be removed?

DG: front-end costs: shelter, pit latrine, re-mobilizing workers

Joseph plans to meet with Paul again ASAP

Joseph has left 4 messages, no reply as yet from Paul

written contract status: idea is to agree on price before finalizing contract. DG: ok to start work without contract understanding there will be one.

Paying workers on site / brick production:

Jimmy is trying to engage community. George to have conversation with team on the ground regarding strategy. Issue expected to be resolved by next call, Tuesday. Production has been at at stand still for 2 weeks.

BT has agreed to provide food for community.

Next steps:

mobilizing contractor (Paul)

finalized contract

brick production negotiation to be finalized by Tuesday

Cameron input:

Architecture for Humanity policy is to pay community members for their work

this can act as an economic stimulus to the community

the choice remains with Building Tomorrow

if the community is encouraged, the tide will turn from optimism to reality.
We need to turn that curve

###

Weekly Update #13 July 8, 2010 | darrengill

Thu, 2010-07-08 02:47

Weekly Update #13 July 8, 2010

ISSB Production/Site:

Meeting with 3rd village postponed to Friday. This will finalise the Building Committee and hopefully an agreement between BT and the local community.

Some work (sieving) took place on Mon/Tue but local community still refusing to make bricks unless they are paid.

Shelter improvement: awaiting materials – much of this is being provided for free from the local community – will be complete by Tue.

Latrine: James to find diggers (paid by the foot) – awaiting materials – to be complete by Tue.

Secure store for materials: identified and agreed with Mr. Sale (neighbouring property) – to be provided for free or at very small rental fee.

Paul to set out building on Monday – digging to commence Mon/Tue

DG submitted materials required for foundations to BT on Monday – required on site by early next week.

Currently 1,300 ISSBs on site – we need 4,000 more within 3-4 weeks. 2nd machine will be delivered within 3 weeks.

Design/Budget Review:

Meeting with Paul clarified material costs. Willing to do one block at a time and very enthusiastic about the project.

Paul has reduced labour to 6.67M per block – negotiation of supervision/profit rates are ongoing.

Contract: waiting for lawyer feedback.

Strategy:

Block#1 to be built to full spec at Nakaseeta and in principle it was agreed to build a stripped version at Mpigi. Cost of both to be reviewed after construction to assess quantity and quality of subsequent blocks at Nakaseeta.

DG to assess practicalities at Mpigi (foundation is already complete) and oversee construction of both.

Weekly Update #12 July 4, 2010 | darrengill

Mon, 2010-07-05 04:35

Weekly Update #12 July 4, 2010

ISSB Production/Site:

Meeting held on Sat with members of 2 villages and Local Community Chairmen. Members of both villages will be on site Monday to sieve murram.

Meeting to be held Wed with 3rd village to finalise overall agreement with BT and establish the Building Committee (Jimmy wants 4 additional members).

ISSB production should recommence after Wed meeting. Materials for ISSB production are on site and food is available for all workers.

JK and Jimmy to arrange temporary pit latrine and improvements to storage area.

2nd ISSB machine has been ordered.

Design/Budget Review:

Paul’s revised BoQ was received and distributed to the team with adjustments by DG and JK – meeting with Paul Tue to agree contract sum based on 140M total for all blocks.

Received green light from BT to commence construction of first block as per the agreed final design drawings. Construction to start no later than July 12.

Blocks 2,3 and 4 to be agreed and followed later – possibly to a lower specification. BT’s final construction budget (excluding cost of land and grading) for this project is 48,000 USD. AFH have offered to finance some of the additional costs to see classrooms built to the desired specification.

DG to adapt a Small Works contract, have it reviewed by local lawyer and reach agreement with Paul asap.

DG to issue list of required materials to BT on Monday to facilitate 6 day lead time. $5,000 USD will be required to cover first phase of construction. BT have funds in Uganda to cover this.

As per revised schedule circulated by DG: blocks 1+2 can be complete by end of Oct if ISSB production begins again asap and material procurement is smooth.

AOB

George will be in Uganda for approx 10 days starting the end of July.

Cameron hoping to get to Uganda from a visit to Nairobi in mid July.

Conference Call Notes: June 29, 2010 |

Tue, 2010-06-29 09:18

Conference Call Notes: June 29, 2010

Attending:

Hayley Maxwell

Farah Naz

Darren Gill

George Srour

Satu Jackson

Update:

ongoing strike on site about labor, work

Jimmy trying to secure community involvement from surrounding villages and set up building committee. each village would contribute 2 days per week. hope to have this settled by next week.

No work on site since Tuesday

Dan recommends 50 shillings per brick

Jimmy taking lead on negotiations. Joseph has final say on decision.

Brick making machine:

2nd ISSB making machine on the way

machine has been ordered

DG estimate: at 600 blocks a day, we could start digging foundations immediately, as soon as budget and design are finalized

Finalized design:

DG completed drawings and submitted to Paul on Monday.

Expect BOQ from Paul by Thursday.

Will schedule call to review with BT, George, team as soon as results are in

BT Workshops:

DG compiling training package for BT

3 sites under construction provide practical demonstrations

Critical next steps:

Paul BOQ

Review of BOQ and final budget amount from Building Tomorrow

Design decisions

###

Weekly Update #11 June 26, 2010 | darrengill

Sat, 2010-06-26 06:11

Weekly Update #11 June 26, 2010

ISSB Production/Site:

Work on site has stalled due to the following: no food for the community volunteers on site, lack of wider community involvement, request for a daily allowance/payment of 5,000 UGX/day/person

Food is now to be provided by BT and pressure put on the Speaker to honour his promise of providing food for the workers

A building committee is to be set up with representatives from the 3 villages to mobilize wider community involvement. This has worked at other BT sites and should have been established at the outset of the project. Registration forms are to be completed by all interested parties. Intention is that each village will form a working group and contribute 2 days a week.

Registration of kids for the school will also take place to establish the numbers of kids expected to attend the school, and highlight the benefits to the families/villages involved

JK is unwilling to pay a daily allowance as this will eliminate the community involvement and it is not within BT’s budget. Dan Andabati had recommended an alternative unit rate of payment (50 UGX/brick)

Jimmy is to implement the above. He expects to have work going again by Wed

Site also requires a temporary pit latrine, improved temporary structure and drainage ditches. BT willing to provide money for materials where needed

2nd Machine: HM + JR have offered money to cover the cost. GS has also secured funding. JK to get prices for purchase and rental from Robert Matabo and Paul Kimera. Normally $1,500 to buy

Design/Budget Review:

Final design review has been approved though minor changes to windows may happen prior to construction. DG currently revising drawings and will issue to Paul on Mon morning. Expecting revised BoQ on Wed. Suggest the weekly conference call be postponed to Thur.

DG estimate: 130 – 140M UGX total

Design/Construction Training:

DG proposed and it was agreed by BT staff in Uganda to run a formal training program to cover basic design considerations, construction techniques and site supervision to upskill local BT staff. Generally BT staff are from a development studies background and additional technical knowledge in these areas would be of benefit

DG to produce “lesson plans” and arrange schedule with JK – all 3 BT sites currently under construction will be used as practical demonstrations. Info pack with diagrams/photos/explanations to be given to each member of staff and used as a reference

Dan Andabati willing to help compile content and run training days with DG

AOB

Copies of the NHK Mission documentary which aired recently in Japan and features this project are in the mail to AFH San Francisco and Kampala.

Isaac Mugumbule will be in Kampala July 12-19 – Darren and Isaac finally get to meet in real life!

Conference Call Notes: June 22, 2010 |

Tue, 2010-06-22 10:40

Conference Call Notes: June 22, 2010

Attending:

Jessica

Sarah

George

Satu

Darren

Joyce

Gretchen

BOQ/Design:

BOQ can be updated by Paul in 2 days

By Tuesda at latest we should have revised numbers from Paul

Jessica and Hayley concerned about window widths

Options: lower sill to make windows bigger ... or extend windows horizontally (allowing windows to open against piers.) DG recommends dropping sill.

Need to get clear understanding of order of magnitude

GM has asked DG to update drawings with major, agreed-upon changes to the building. Will get revised BOQ from Paul, then see where we are and finalize ultimate strategy. Can continue to look at refinement of window detail to maximize daylight and ventilation. But need to focus on getting big picture on paper to make sure project moves forward.

Next step:

finalize drawings as they are with lowered sill. Gifford to review/refine window design (particularly elevation)

DG to send elevation to Gifford on Wednesday. Then send revised drawings to Paul. Target: priced set by next Tuesday. DG to give Paul a heads up about upcoming drawings and quick turn-around.

Note: Jessica on holiday for next 2 weeks

Budget/Scope:

159M UGX is current construction budget total

130-140M UGX is the anticipated total with proposed revisions

GS: the hope is we can do everything, but there are external, required factors such as the latrine, furniture, etc which must be taken into account (and are not in included in budget.) So it sounds like we may not be able to build the entire school. But will wait to make this call until the estimated cost is determined.

Brick production/labor:

production has been very slow due to number of attendees and hours committed.

Production is of very good quality

Pbs: provision of food and wider community involvement

DG had useful meeting on Friday with Jimmy on how to improve the situation

Agreed on way to supplement the lunch. Need a consistent crew of 10-12 people, full-time, over a 2-3 month period. Considering small allowance for community workers. (?!) Also need 2nd machine. Can be rented from contractor Paul or Robert (contractor for Mpigi).

GS spoke to Joseph about labor negotation / payment. GS defers to Joseph for decision making on this.

Brick making machine:

With (2) machines on site and a consistent labor force, the team can produce 600 bricks a day, which would take 48 days. ie: 2 months.

for general construction, only need a few hours every week from community for other construction elements (except for foundations.)

Idea: paid crew could mobilize other people to help. Jimmy is orchestrating this negotiation.

Will have to pay for 2nd brick making machine. other hurdle: no (2) machines are absolutely identical. Need to make sure all bricks from each machine are stored separately and used on distinct pods.

2nd machine not in budget. BT owns (3) machines, but others are in use. GS will need to have discussion with Joseph and would need to find money for the purchase. Hayley and Jessica think they have about 3K that they could contribute from their Skipathon fundraiser. Jessica to check with team. Maybe this could be applied to 2nd machine and act as a supplement to the other budget. Cost of 2nd machine: about 1,000 USD.

At current rate of production, it will take 2 months to start construction (6 weeks before we can dig foundations.) need 10,000 bricks to start construction.

cost of brick making machine rental? GS to speak with Joseph about this.

Projected schedule:

Paul quoted 4-month duration to build entire academy

DG in Uganda through end of September (ie: 3mo)

If construction can start in early July, then DG will leave before the school is complete. Will build one pod at a time.

Ideal: DG oversees completion of at least (2) pods with community (barring any unforseen weather delays, etc.) Will shoot for this.

Brick production will require 10 guys 2 months to complete. 24,000 bricks required. Currently have 900. This needs to keep moving, otherwise it will delay the project. About 4 weeks into construction project, bricks will be needed.
DG personally estimated 4-5 months to build schools. Worth noting that both Johann and other contractor said it would take 7 months. If materials are well scheduled, it should work in 4 months according to Paul ... it is not a complicated build.

Paul is natural expert on ISSB technology. Very skilled. Crew is very skilled. Has built his own home using these materials, so he really knows how to do it well.

###

Gifford design comments: June 21, 2010 |

Mon, 2010-06-21 10:38

Gifford design comments: June 21, 2010

1. New floor plan arrangement provides reduced window openings therefore reduced daylight/ventilation. ‘Glazed’ area of north facing elevation – 26% which is low. JR thought when firming up ISSB dimensions area would actually be less than 413mm currently shown – 406mm. DG to confirm.

2. Could we increase window openings and pin back to buttresses / internally? Not as neat.

3. Are shutters to be fixed within a steel frame or directly to ISSBs? If using a frame to house shutters, opening will be reduced further, but would alleviate problem of 270deg hinge.

4. Steel window is fine – we thought timber was cheaper and better aesthetically so had developed design on this basis. Is it possible to paint window slats bright colours?

5. Window design largely reduces daylight compared to original proposal. Can we make spacing of louvers in fixed top panel more generous to allow more light in – or even use reinforcement bars? Due to large overhang, unlikely rain ingress will be an issue at high level. Could spacing between shutter louvers could also be more generous? Do slats need to have S-shape which cuts out light?

6. Unclear how Arup window design opens? Appears fixed. Keen to develop our own original design for Nakaseeta.

7. See attached window from school which inspired us. Probably too expensive.

8. Window sill okay to be dropped 1 brick to allow children better access.

9. Could we use cob under window seat to provide thermal mass? Farah returns tomorrow so can advise.

###

Weekly Update #10: June 18, 2010 | darrengill

Fri, 2010-06-18 06:17

Weekly Update #10: June 18, 2010

ISSB Production/Site:

ISSB production is slow – 2 burials this week. Approx 4-9 people are on site everyday but attendance and productivity is very inconsistent due to: 1. continued problems providing lunch – the local workers are requesting 1-2kg beans (75c - $1.50) per day to supplement the maize flour provided by the District Speaker, and 2. Lack of involvement of the wider community. Meeting scheduled with all the Local Councils and community members for 2pm Monday on site to clarify the agreement between BT and the local communities.

DG and Dan sourced locally available fine marram to grade the mix but cost was prohibitive (60,000 UGX/trip) – continuing production using oil instead. Quality of bricks being produced is high.

Ewan confirmed strength test results are good – comparable to what Arup achieve. Safety factors used in UK, US etc drive design strength up (UK min is 7) but in reality design strength is lower even in the UK (around 2.5).

Design/Budget Review:

Sketches and saving estimates circulated by DG and Gifford – awaiting confirmation from Team before DG revises drawings and issues to Paul for new BoQ.

Ewan’s feedback on the design was very positive – advice relating to columns, ring beam, solar chimney and steel specification currently being clarified and agreed. DG to incorporate into drawings. Summary and reference projects to be uploaded by DG shortly.

DG uploaded running expenditure account to OAN – all construction expense will be tracked and updated here.

Still awaiting BoQs from JK for Kyeitabya, Mpigi and revised BoQs from Kiyamba and Gita.

AOB

Notre Dame students currently setting up Kyeitabya project on the OAN.

DG and Isaac Mugumbule (AFH Design Fellow, Nairobi) approached by Designers Without Borders and Cynthia Smith (author Design for the Other 90%) to advise on their projects and assist with Cynthia’s research. Details to follow…

Conference Call Notes: June 8, 2010 |

Tue, 2010-06-15 11:22

Conference Call Notes: June 8, 2010

Attending:

Jessica

Joyce

Satu

George

Window Wall/Buttress Discussion:

open windows internally?

DG and JR wall feature / buttress detail configuration -- sent proposals. DG and Dan working on pricing options for this.

Jessica proposal: eliminate buttresses, shelves and benches -- introduce concrete peers within wall to tie into ring beam.

DG proposal: switch buttress detail from U-shape to less frequent single, wider, buttresses where benches occur in each pod with window. (see drawing)

benches, etc: timber comes in 13' lengths - DG to make sure design conforms to this

need to layout design with ISSB coursing

brick strength confirmed by Ewan - UK strength spec much higher due to factors of safety. Jessica: brick consistency will be very important.

brick making: brick making quality is excellent. Consistency and quality is excellent. Productivity is slow. working on that. burial in village yesterday and today also slow things down.

Outstanding:

DG waiting for confirmation on wall feature / buttress detail from team. then will revise drawings and submit to Paul for revised BOQ. Paul turn-around: about 2 days.

GS: issue of revised classroom sizes and reduced number of classrooms?
Budget cap is around 55K total. if that builds 6 classrooms, that's ok.

rotated bricks at Gita used as coat rack. students use these bricks as steps to take bolts out of trusses in roof. continuing challenge.

Next step:

JR to reach out to Gifford design team for input of DG wall proposal. DG to price options. SJ to ask GM for input. Reconvene.

###

Weekly Update #9: June 13, 2010 | darrengill

Mon, 2010-06-14 01:02

Weekly Update #9: June 13, 2010

Site:

Training is complete – Dan is happy with how the local community have learnt to use the ISSB machine. Production is slow so far (max 200 bricks/day) but the speed is increasing. DG to keep track of this.

Normally about 10 workers on site – James assures us if there is more work there will be more people. The second ISSB machine and digging foundations should start within the next week.

ISSB:

Soil on site has high clay content – and requires regular oiling of the machine – this in part explains slow production. Dan and DG found various marram pits in the area but costs were prohibitive (c. 60,000/trip). Dan advised to continue using oil for now.

Research results vary from 1-5 N/mm2 – and apparently as high as 7. Additional strength is achieved by increasing sand content to extent of having no soil in the mix. Also, some testing methods did not involve cutting brick as per Ministry of Works Uganda.

Design/Budget Review:

DG met with Paul and design/VE items discussed with the team. DG has distributed steel window sketch. Gifford to circulate revised infill wall ideas. Area reduction agreed – to be incorporated by DG. Other revisions were agreed as per conference call notes. DG to revise drawings and issue to Paul for revised BoQ.

Gita BoQ totaled at c. 42,000 USD – DG has asked JK to clarify. Still awaiting BoQ for Kyeitabya, Mpigi and revised BoQ from Kiyamba.

AOB

DG forwarded Kyeitabya observations and instructions to Dan who will be taking over quality control.

Mbale site survey info is being uploaded to the OAN at http://openarchitecturenetwork.org/projects/mbale

Conference Call Notes: June 8, 2010 |

Tue, 2010-06-08 10:26

Conference Call Notes: June 8, 2010

Attending:

George:

Jessica

Hayley

Darren

Satu

Paul BOQ:

Joseph met with Paul. Agreed to reduce labor rates and supervision. DG optimistic about meeting with Paul. Will produce another BOQ. DG would like to run material options by team, update drawings and then submit to Paul for revised BOQ. DG optimistic this will produce a reasonable budget.

Design considerations:

Roof - Paul proposes making trusses out of eucalyptus (harder wood, harder to work with) - could save about 30% (because pine is not indigenous/plentiful). harder than carribean pitch pine which was specified. members sizes stay the same. Gifford to check on properties of eucalyptus. Use for structural elements, less where finish is a concern.

Ceiling - reduce members from 4x2 to 3x2, 800 mm centers

Corrugated roofing - use grade 30 (pre-painted) rather than grade 28. cheaper but will still last about 40 years.

Windows and doors - recommending steel frame with steel users instead of timber frame with timber louvers. That should save about 30%. Gifford fine with this.

Shutters - louvers can act as shutters when close enough together. Arup example. Other option is plate steel for shutters ... with looser spacing for louvers. Would like to keep option of opening lower portion completely so kids can play in structure. DG to send sketch. Gifford to investigate angle of shutters and report back.

Reducing ring beam steel - 16 mm steel bars reduced to 12 mm. Ministry of Education recommends 16. Dan proposed 12. Previous BT projects have never used 16mm. Gifford: ring beam serves 2 purposes - to tie building together and act as a beam. with reduced height, Gifford would recommend 16mm where ring beam passes over windows (in front of building). Could use 12mm on other sides. DG: savings amounts to 25%. DG to detail cost savings. Gifford to ask for advice in office and report back. NOTE: GM advised NOT to make this change. Stick with 16mm.

Storage shelving - teachers really do not have any items to store. And what they do store needs to be secure. Paul suggests if those thin walls do not reach to ring beam, you may not need a foundation for them. Gifford: wall acts as lateral stablility / pier for exterior wall. DG suggestion: Piers and benches with lockable storage under sill? Double wall thickness desirable for insulation, structure (double skin) and storage. Could reduce foundation width. Piers would facilitate tying ring beam down. Keep idea of shading, recesses, informal learning / play spaces. DG to send sketch of options and savings details.

Wall space - would like more wall space (less storage space) to display pictures. GS: drawing and painting walls very popular.

Areas - DG understanding is we can go with reduced areas. Syathemba site is 36 m2 per classroom. Nakaseeta junior school (private primary school in area) - their classrooms are much smaller, but student body is smaller as well. largest class: 29 students. 42 m2 vs 48.5 m2. Reduction is in cross wall, so should be easy to accomplish with ISSB. Gifford is open to reducing size to maintain quality of design.

Timber above ring beam - Paul said cost could be adjusted to be same cost as brick. Timber is preferable.

Budget:

Will not meet 45 K budget. DG and Joseph optimistic budget will come in at 60K. Is this sustainable for Building Tomorrow?

Brick testing:

dry testing meets standards for ISSB.

ARUP did achieve value of 7 with ISSB tests. Significantly increased sand and cement. Could also depend largely on testing method. UN Habitat recommends value of 1-5. Interlock persumably helps considerably, which test does not show.

Site brick making:

Slow but progressing. Need to oil machine very regularly for bricks to come out smoothly. Investigating fine quality marram to blend with soil on site. roughly 30% should be fine marram. Need to buy this.

not that many people are coming to the site. DG needs Jimmy and Joseph to help with community mobilization. Lunch issue resolved!? (District parliament speaker)

Next steps:

Team feedback on design options. DG revised drawings.

Paul’s revised bid

Assurance that the concrete and re-bar are still in the columns.

###

Weekly Update #8: June 6, 2010 | darrengill

Mon, 2010-06-07 07:23

Weekly Update #8: June 6, 2010

Site:

Training is under way – slow to start but now approx 15 members of the local community regularly on site – continue to next tue/wed.

All materials and tools required are on site – running account will be uploaded to files section shortly – DG will keep track of all expenses for duration of project.

Ground breaking ceremony took place on Wed – very successful. The guest of honour (House Speaker from the District Parliament) and various other local politicians gave speeches and encouraged the local community. Promises made included: to fix the road from Nakaseeta to Jinja Road (approx 4km), lunch for all the workers for the first month, sugar for morning porridge for all the workers, a personal visti to the site every 2 days by the Speaker, and a general commitment and offer of help for the duration of the project.

ISSB:

Dry results are: 2.0, 2.3 and 2.6 (official report to be uploaded shortly) One of these bricks was poorly made (assumed to be the weakest). Results correspond to previous results and Dan’s projections.

Awaiting feedback from Ewan – he returns from holidays on June 9. DG to follow up.

Still awaiting research results from DG.

Current ratio in use as advised by Dan: 4 barrows sieved parent marram + 2 barrows sieved fine marram + 1 barrow sieved lake sand + 1 bag cement. 6% cement and approx 10% sand.

Design/Budget Review:

JK met Paul Kimera (notes below). Labour rates can be reduced in line with certain design adjustments. DG to meet Paul Kimera on Tue to review design and VE options as per his request.

Received Gita final account from JK – DG to review and upload.

Kyeitabya Site Visit:

DG and JK visited Kyeitabya to review progress. 10 US students have been on site for the past 2 weeks with Apollo and Maggie from BT. Photos and drawings uploaded and instructions issued to JK and the contractor, Robert Matabo.

DG would like to visit again to ensure work is being carried out correctly.

US students to update drawings and upload to the OAN and forward BoQ/cost estimate to DG.

AOB

DG and Denis (Tag Rugby Trust) will travel to Mbale on Wed.

Meeting Notes: May 30, 2010 | darrengill

Mon, 2010-06-07 07:22

Meeting Notes: May 30, 2010

Attendance:

Joseph

Paul Kimera

The following are JK’s notes from the meeting held with Paul, the potential contractor for the BT- Nakaseta site.

Agenda:

The meeting lasted three hours having been postponed twice due to an avoidable reason.

We went through item per item focusing the quality and quantity

We discussed the why the costs seem to be high in general terms

We discussed the way BT has built previous sites at a lower cost compared to the nakasetta site

We discussed the Nakaseeta building design

Options and alternative for some of the materials for construction will further reduce the overall costs

Way Forward:

In order to reduce costs without compromising the quality of the building it was agreed that( a number of prices for item shall significantly reduce for example, use of 16 mm high tension bars shall replaced with 12mm, the windows and doors will reduced half etc)

The entire building design be re-discussed amongst BT(Joseph, Paul and Darren

The costs especially labor fees shall have to be discussed between BT and the contractor

The meeting agreed that, traditional methods of buying through bargaining should be maintained as these will reduce the costs

Conclusion:

BT shall have to agree to re-discuss the entire building design to make it less “muzungu quoted”.

The discussion must ensure the quality of the structure is maintained while strategies to reduce costs in the Ugandan building context are applied.

###

Conference Call Notes: June 1, 2010 |

Tue, 2010-06-01 10:40

Weekly Conference Call: June 1, 2010

Attending:

George

Darren

Gretchen

Satu

Joyce

Jessica

Site Update:

built temporary shelter

received delivery of sand and other materials

full brick production will start tomorrow

Brick values:

getting results in person, officially on Thursday

.8-1.5= good/ok

anything above 2 for dry brick (1 for wet brick) is fine

our result: 1.1 - 1.3 (wet brick)

will receive dry bricks results as soon as Darren can visit them.

value for concrete blocks = 6

so significantly less strong than concrete block, not suitable for

multi-story construction, but seem fine for our purposes.

Would like to receive Ewan's blessing on these test results and hear Gifford comments.

Could research strength of fired bricks

Gifford use value of 5 or 6 in calculations. So need to discuss this discrepancy.

testing method also is rather unique ... cutting brick damages integrity of brick and breaks water seal that forms on the outside of brick. calls into question integrity of test.

Next steps:

evaluate dry brick test

await recommendation from Hayley and Jessica, and possibly Ewan

Brick Mix:

residual material is in these last bricks (dry test bricks)

on average: 5-10% cement, 7 1/2% sand

need to know min. compressive strength of bricks required

GM to email Gifford / team

Site:

expecting 20-30 people tomorrow.

starting ground-breaking tomorrow at 11am. Many community members attending.

Worst case: if we have to change the mix ratio, we can use tomorrow's bricks for another use. DG: all literature indicates bricks were made well and correctly. Dan is very comfortable with results. Issue: don't have much of a reference point for results. Just following through with due diligence at this point.

Budget and Negotiations:

Joseph met Paul on Fri afternoon

DG has not connected with Joseph since, still trying. Missing link for budget discussion.

All materials bought thus far (tools, sand, etc.) have been cheaper than Dan's BOQ ... not significantly, but still lower. Good sign. DG keeping running tally of all site/material costs.

GS / DG will try to connect with Joseph and email update to team.

Joseph will give speech at ground breaking

Gifford

Jessica joined call

does not have data to calculate with these results

defers to Dan re: test results

GM: can Gifford do the calculations for a mass (not necessarily brick) as an infill wall?

DG to reach out to contact at MIT.

###

Weekly Update #7: May 30, 2010 | darrengill

Mon, 2010-05-31 02:26

Weekly Update #7: May 30, 2010

Site:

Not much happened on site this week. Bezalel have been paid for the grading. DG to upload photos asap.

ISSB:

Results from wet testing were 1.1 – 1.3 (see files section for report sheet). Inline with Dan’s expectations. 3 additional bricks delivered for dry testing.

Training to commence Tue morning. DG and Jimmy to purchase and deliver all materials/tools to site on Mon. James, Sale and the Nakaseeta chairman informed and assure 30 people will be present.

Awaiting confirmation of second machine. With 2 machines it will take approx 40 days to produce all 24,000 bricks.

Tender Package:

Robert finally submitted his tender bid (BoQ and FoT distributed to the team and uploaded to OAN). General agreement that given his absenteeism he is not a reliable candidate.

DG to issue tender results to all contractors.

Design Review:

DG met Justus Akankwasa (Min of Education) and Davy Mugamba (Pro-Plan Partners) – see meeting notes below – both generally very complimentary and advised certain changes: timber, doors, windows, termite protection, thermal mass….to be reviewed after larger design/budget concerns are resolved.

Extg area (48 sq m and 40 pupils/classroom) confirms to MoE guidelines.

Options being considered to reduce area, vary classroom size or perhaps reduce number of classrooms.

Budget Review:

JK met with Paul on Friday to negotiate labour rates – awaiting feedback.

With reduced/varied area, negotiated labour rates and material costs as per Dan’s BoQ will hopefully achieve an acceptable budget –recommendations from Justus and Davy would save more again.

Still waiting on BoQs and drawings from JK.

AOB

DG still chasing Ewan – have not received feedback yet.

Dan starts with BT this Monday (May 31).

US student group working on another BT site – DG to visit and see what we can learn from each other – design, BoQ etc.

The AFH UK chapter are starting a project (rugby/sports facility) in Mbale (eastern district), Uganda. DG to conduct site survey and help with community consultation – schedule TBC.

Conference Call Notes: May 27, 2010 |

Thu, 2010-05-27 11:37

Weekly Conference Call: May 27, 2010

Attending:

Darren

Joseph

George

Jessica

Chris

Gretchen

Satu

ISSB Results:

Jessica feedback: hoping for test strength of 5-7 Newtons/mm2 per brick, minimum of 4. Got 1.3.

Note: bricks were wet tested rather than dry tested - ie: soaked in a bucket of water for 24 hours (min) and then tested in their weakest condition.

Jessica: would be good to test dry bricks.

DG: Dan specified his preference was to crush bricks when wet.

Were these results in line with expectation? Waiting to speak to Dan.

Bricks had been cured for 28 days

BoQ:

Dan working for BT.

Joseph will meet with Paul tomorrow to see about reductions on labor side. Will evaluate compared to his other projects. Should have more info for Tuesday call.

Area comparison:

Building is on small side. GM: Would prefer to stick with project at current size, without reducing area.

DG met with Ministry of Education yesterday. They aim for 1.2 m2 per student and 40 children per classroom. ie: 48 m2 for total classroom size. Openly acknowledge that classrooms tend to have 70-80 students in classroom. Absolute minimum is $150 per m2 which equates to $14 USD per sq ft. But they also said they rarely achieve this.

GS: does it make sense to approach from multi-level teaching perspective? ie: more than 1 grade in 1 classroom.

Jessica: Is there advantage is varying size of classroom spaces? Creating smaller and larger spaces vs. standardized size.

GS: none of Ministry of Education standards are enforced. Not a battle worth fighting.

DG: school positioned to serve 5 villages. If this school is of a good standard, more kids will travel further to reach it. 2km is typical walking range. But good schools have a larger catchment area.

GS: estimate is there are around 400 children in Nakaseeta catchment area.

BT is entertaining idea of building 4 classrooms in nearby areas within community, rather than 8 in 1 area

Design/Budget Review:

replace timber windows/doors, steel in truss, storage and display space, sill levels, termite protection, thermal mass, flexible partition wall, rainwater harvesting, latrines.

To be discussed in soon, after big picture items.

###

Pro-Plan Partners Meeting Notes: May 26, 2010 | darrengill

Thu, 2010-05-27 05:14

Pro-Plan Partners Meeting Notes: May 26, 2010

Attendance:

Darren GIll

Davy Mugamba (Architect), Principal Partner, Pro-Plan Partners

Enoch Katalihwa (Architect), Pro-Plan Partners

Procedure:

DG outlined Architecture for Humanity, Building Tomorrow and the Nakaseeta project.

Davy explained they drew up the ‘School Facilities Grant Designs Handbooks’ for all educational facilities on behalf of the MoE, the nature of these designs, and how the templates are supposed to be used.

Nakaseeta Design:

Davy and Enoch very complimentary and offered following recommendations:

getting quality timber is difficult and expensive –replace windows with timber frame and aluminium louvers – cheaper and more durable; similar concern with doors; consider replacing long truss members with steel RHS; replace solar chimney with insulated sandwich panel roofing (Huansung produce these locally); timber louvers above ring beam must be well seasoned and selected.

Rainwater harvesting should be included and is relatively easy/cheap given the mono pitch roof.

termites are serious problem – add pointed slab detail to prevent.

Consider raising cill to 900-1200mm – not essential if louvers done correctly.

To late in the school day for thermal mass to take effect – significantly increases cost of founds and walls for no real benefit – overhang is far more important for solar shading.

Too much storage and not enough display space - could replace cob infill with lockable storage and rework back wall with less shelves and more display area/usable floor area.

Ministry of Education Meeting Notes: May 26, 2010 | darrengill

Thu, 2010-05-27 05:11

Ministry of Education Meeting Notes: May 26, 2010

Attendance:

Darren GIll

Justus Akankwasa (Engineer), Assistant Commissioner , Construction Management Unit, Ministry of Education

Procedure:

DG outlined Architecture for Humanity, Building Tomorrow and the Nakaseeta project.

Justus explained his position and the Construction Management Unit of the Ministry of Education – they are responsible for design and construction of all education facilities. Requested that BT formally write to the Commissioner and confirm the Nakaseeta project to ensure work and budget allocations are not duplicated.

Ugandan Standard Design:

Justus presented the ‘Primary School Facilities Grant Designs Handbook’ – these are the minimum regulatory requirements for all schools in Uganda (selected drawings will be uploaded to files page on OAN shortly). Handbook distributed to all districts. Issued copies of relevant drawings to Darren.

Justus: standard is not high and would like to see districts making improvements regularly. Not happening, but has improved the previous unregulated standard.

Minimum standard can be achieved for $150/sq m in ideal situations – huge variation – normally higher.

Ministry guidelines based on 1.2 sqm/pupil and 40 pupils/classroom but 70-80/classroom not uncommon.

Nakaseeta:

Darren presented the Nakaseeta project. Very enthusiastic response – area, number of pupils, roof design, additional light and ventilation, structure, ISSBs – all good.

Justus very interested in use of ISSBs – advised on importance of testing. DG to send test results to Justus. Justus would like to visit site when wall construction is underway. Previously tried to push MoE to specify ISSB – would like reference projects to influence policy.

Design concerns: cill level is low – children get distracted if they can see ground level outside. Cill level should be 900 – 1200mm.

Rainwater harvesting should be included - probably largest and cleanest source of water in the village.

Latrines?

Sliding doors in place of central partition – for exams and community use – company called Casement could fabricate – advised metal frame with timber infill for sound reduction.

Call Notes: May 24, 2010 | darrengill

Tue, 2010-05-25 07:53

Call Notes: May 24, 2010

Attendance:

George

Darren

Joseph

Tender Bids:

Joseph (without Darren) to meet Paul to negotiate labour rates and discuss material costs and quants. DG and JK to meet tomorrow (Tue) for preliminary checks.

DG to meet Robert tomorrow – finally! GS: given he’s been MIA we shouldn’t proceed with him but numbers would be interested. Agreed.

Budget/Design Revisions:

DG/GS: we need BoQs and drawings from Joseph. JK will forward these to Darren asap.

JK: we don’t have a single school which is 100% complete so comparisons with previous BoQs will be difficult.

BT: what can we save using ISSBs/on superstructure. DG: walling represents approx 20% of overall budget. Unit costs of ISSBs are higher than fired bricks when you have to buy all materials – we only need to buy cement so should be cheaper. Should save approx 50% on mortar. DG to check numbers and follow up.

GS: what can we afford and what does that get us in terms of design? DG: with reduced area, reduced/negotiated labour and material costs as per Dan’s BoQ we can hopefully get to an acceptable figure. Can possibly squeeze a tiny bit more out of the design but savings won’t be significant.

DG: went through BoQ with Dan - he stands over quantities but expected unit costs to come in higher than he quoted. Obviously, profit margins, overheads etc bring tenders higher again. We can trust quants in his BoQ.

DG: how have BT achieved reduced costs for other schools? JK: saved through ‘creative procurement’ – frequently get materials for less than quoted in the BoQ through negotiation with vendor and transport.

DG: why is this scale in budget difference only now apparent? GS: don’t know, we were clear with team before as to what our budget was.

2nd ISSB Machine:

2nd machine required to prevent delays at Nakaseeta. BT own 3 machines – 1 at each construction site right now.

GS: Each machine produces slightly different blocks – need strict supervision. DG: I can provide this – recommend each machine produces bricks for separate blocks.

JK to check rental prices with Paul and Robert. Machine needs to be on site within 2 weeks.

DG: using IBBS requires careful scheduling – in 2 weeks time ISSBs being made on 3 separate sites – slow progress. Should begin production long before construction starts. JK: problems with delays due to testing and not having confirmed budget/go ahead. DG: agreed but needs to be scheduled more carefully in future projects. GS: can Darren and Dan work out schedule to be used in future? yes.

Weekly Update #6: May 24, 2010 | darrengill

Mon, 2010-05-24 00:19

Weekly Update #6: May 24, 2010

Site:

Grading is complete. Moving now to mobilize the local community to dig drainage ditches, level infill, sieve marram and make ISSBs.

Estimate enough marram has been excavated for all the ISSBs required (24,000) but will need to buy additional hardcore.

ISSB:

2nd machine available from Paul/Robert – JK to arrange – machine needs to be onsite within 2 weeks.

DG and Dan delivered test bricks to lab – will be tested on Monday and results back Thur. All bricks to be wet tested as this is their weakest condition.

Training to take place 1 – 4 June. DG to schedule with Dan and local community. DG to arrange cement and water.

Local Community:

Meeting took place to outline work/contribution sought – dig foundations, make bricks, provide food, unskilled labour for mixing, carrying etc, provision of water, dig drainage ditches, level excess infill, keep site tidy, and possibility of paid work for skilled workers. Response was very encouraging.

Tender Package:

Tenders received form Johann and Paul. Still awaiting from Robert – he is MIA – DG has been unable to contact him since Tuesday.

Received tenders have been compared with Dan’s original estimate and Soft Power estimates, and distributed to the team.

DG still awaiting additional info (drawings and BoQs) for Mpigi, Gita, Lutisi, Kiyumba.

DG to inform contractors of results and meet Paul to negotiate.

Budget/VE Revisions

Option to reduce floor area proposed by design team – save approx 2M/$900 per block. Accepted.

Other design reductions considered: make each block a pure rectangle, remove concrete and steel from piers, remove solar chimney, remove infill wall, replace timber above ring beam with fired bricks. General agreement that these options excessively compromise the quality and intent of the project. We did not set out to build “just another classroom”.

Labour only contract is viable option for this project with DG and Dan involved. Other BT staff will need to be trained for this model to be sustainable on future projects.

Meeting with Irish Aid was not immediately useful as their work is very very different. However, Irish Aid recommended meeting with and introduced DG to Tinka (Ministry of Education) to discuss design and budget, and Justus (Proplan Partners)to advise on quality control.DG to meet both parties this week.

AOB

Japanese documentary ‘Mission” aired on NHK on Sunday evening.

JK, Apollo, and DG met group of 8 students from Notre Dame and De Paul University, plus Maggie from BT HQ for intros and orientation on Saturday. They will be in Uganda for 21 days to work on the construction of a school they designed for BT. DG to visit site and collectively review drawings, BoQs and construction.

BOQ Conference Call: May 20, 2010 |

Thu, 2010-05-20 11:14

BOQ Conference Call: May 20, 2010

Attending:

George

Gretchen

Darren

Satu

Hayley

Jessica

Community workshop:

40 people

very enthusiastic

asked great questions

chairman is very receptive

need to be willing to provide some food/lunch and they will be willing to work

challenge: to keep people interested

showed them drawings

showed them BOQ

meeting was at chairman's home rather than on site. will have another meeting on site next week.

Bricks:

DG will bring bricks to lab tomorrow for testing

hopes to start making bricks next week

BOQ:

DG sent comparison sheet

J+H believe Softpower schools are well built and large. But their BOQ does not make much sense. Prices included for materials in some cases are NOT accurate. (5-6 years old.)Transport cost is huge for them as they are buying in Kampala and transporting to site.

GS: Softpower estimate is around 6K per classroom, but when priced it looks like 8K for 2 classrooms. Incongruent.

GS: 7K difference between each block. Bezalel's (Johann) bid is 13K over Dan's BOQ. DG: expected Johann to come in high, but not that high. Speccing very high cost for timber and aggregates, and as other costs (including preliminaries) are a percentage of material, it just spirals from there. Also, his labor costs are very high: 30%.

Paul's labor cost is almost identical to Dan's - which is encouraging. ie: if we can use Paul's labor values and achieve Dan's material costs, that would be very positive.

Dan's bid is the lowest.

GS: BT cannot fund construction of these schools with either of the bids presented (Bezalel Johann and Paul Technology for Tomorrow.) Even Dan's bid is on the high side of what BT can afford and continue to replicate.

Discussion:

BT bringing Dan on board as staff within days.

BT moving towards having skill set available in-house.

GS: Even if you take the lowest estimate (Dan's), BT is paying 5K more per school for labour that BT ever has. GM: complexity of sloped site is contributing to some of this.

GS: 53K figure for Gita -- reason why some issues there are not fixed because funding is tied up with donor. This price also includes pit latrine. H: the floor area is half the size, however.

Classroom Size:

GS: BT concern that classroom may be TOO big. The government then really overloads classroom (with 80-90 children.) So reducing size may be a viable option.

H+J: experience at Softpower re: school size?

target square meter area per student in Uganda: GS to look it up. DG: 8.1x6.4 (Softpower size) -- aligns with Ugandan government recommendation. approximately 1 meter square per student.

GS: Ministry of Education numbers are out of line: motivated by trying to place as many kids in one classroom as possible. This compromises education and makes number of children in classroom very large.

Nakaseeta: 41.4 square meters to the front of the shelves and bench (not including seating and shelving) for size of classroom. According to Ministry of Education, that would be a 40 children classroom.

GS: Even so, the classrooms will be sorely overloaded. Concern this will not be a good learning environment. Absolute maximum should be 50 kids per classroom.

DG: one of the highest population growth rates in world. Very young population. MDG: 100% primary education by 2015. Nowhere near achieving this - enrollment yes but drop out rate is huge. Result: overloaded classrooms at 80 children per classroom, 1 teacher ...

GS: goal is to provide quality experience.

Width reduction:

GM: width reduction saves about 900 USD and may save about 5 extra kids from being included. At some point, however, you cannot control overloading.

DG: to check with Neuford sizes for desks and verify correct sizing in Nakaseeta plan. right now scaling as 300x600 mm.

Questions:

Paul: labor is 20% of material cost?

GS: looking at maximum budget per block of 15K. total 60K. In so doing, it completely changes BT approach to fundraising etc. We really need to target this figure. GS: would imagine labor rates are very negotiable.

Degree of variation in BOQ indicates there's a lot of uncertainty that is built into these estimates. Need to press harder to find what we are really looking at in terms of costs.

GS would like to know more as to why there is a 2500 USD per classroom difference in materials.

Dan's estimate is an UNDER estimate.

Timber is accounting for most of material differences. Hardwood machine cut vs Softwood handcut. Similarly with aggregate. Things like this make material cost so radically different. Likely explains about 75% of difference.

Next steps:

GM: are at a place where we need to negotiate numbers down. Maybe 10-15%. But this may be the max.

classroom size reduction would save 900 USD per block.

GS: probably could be more savings in labour. 25 M Shillings: current cost. Wouldn't be surprised if this number came down by 20%.

GS: Gita labor figure maybe have been 16-16.5 M Shillings (approximately 15%). Current BOQ profit is contained in labour ... given costs are very well padded and more can be saved. Dan's labour cost is 26 M Shillings (for reference.

GS, Joseph and DG to have call about this tomorrow.

Darren and Joseph to set up meetings to negotiate costs with a target to get labour down to 15% of overall cost.

Also need to have conversation with Dan for realistic material quotes.

GS: in the end, going with a contractor who will provide both labour and materials could save a lot of headache ... and money.

Still awaiting Robert's BOQ.

Critical that Joseph be apart of negotiations.

Next call: Tuesday May 25 -- SJ to send invite.

###

Design Options Conference Call: May 19, 2010 |

Wed, 2010-05-19 11:28

Design Options Conference Call: May 19, 2010

Attending:

Darren

Hayley

Jessica

Joyce

Gretchen

Satu

BOQ Results:

>> Note: one block = 2 classrooms

Soft Power BOQ: 23,757,500 UGX / 10,713 USD per block

Dan's estimate: 40,975,031 UGX / 18,478 USD per block

Johann's (Bezalel) BOQ: 77,056,672 UGX / 34,749 USD per block (300 M UGX / 142,367 USD in total)

Paul's BOQ: 55,245,008 UGX / 24,913 USD per block

Irish Aid: N/A

Descriptions:

Soft Power: 1/2 as much timber used AND timber cost is 1/2 as much. 6x2 timber is min. of 18,000 shillings. they're quoting 6,000. Darren and Joseph feel this bid is not viable. no steel, no concrete in columns. using less than 50% cement. need 7 bags of cement to complete all walls. there's no way to make enough mortar using 7 bags of cement to lay all these bricks.

Paul' tender: 200M UGX. 100,000 USD total. sounds scary to begin with, but Joseph and DG enthusiastic about this BOQ. Labor cost is only about 8M UGX.

Johann (Bezalel): a lot of exposed timber. high specification for timber. preliminaries of 15%, labor of 30%, overheads of 10% ... drive up cost.

Possible savings:

DG estimates community labor could save 2M UGX / 1,000 USD per block based on dan's estimate.

DG estimates cost of sloping site/retaining walls accounts for approximately 20% of foundation costs.

Next Steps:

needed: summary sheet with totals of all BOQ's. DG to issue comparison of quantities and costs for tomorrow's call.

represent subtotal for labor. (Bids will be more useful for BT material costing.)

represent overage for walls on south end of site

DG still awaiting BOQ's of BT schools from Joseph and George for comparison.

Hayley and Jessica to review design options / vet them.

Talking points for tomorrow: 3 tenders and option 1.

Design options per DG:

option 1: reduce floor area by 12% -- bringing classroom closer to standard BT size. still smaller than Ministry of Education standard. (??) slightly larger than standard BT. still seats 50 children. by narrowing building, you can still keep all the other design elements. significantly reduces vertical build up under slab on southern walls

option 2: concertina walls. gang windows to make 4 bays rather than 9. use piers rather than free-standing walls. simplifies insulation and doubles size of windows. concrete and steel in the center of all piers.

option 3: same as option 2 except no concrete or steel in piers. Does not seem feasible.

Design Comments:

H+J: if you're going to reduce the area, making the classrooms narrower works well for lighting and the foundation. If you make the classroom shorter, it may mess up the window/brick spacing.

DG: timber is more expensive than ISSB bricks. bricks are dirt cheap. only cost is mason (cheap) and mortar. since timber is not standard construction, it also is more expensive.

H+J: using bricks above the ring beam does not work. Would prefer to use louvered timber panels. Tender prices include wood in this location.

based on Bezelel's BOQ, cost of solar chimney/suspended ceilings is estimated at 3.7M UGX / 1,600 USD per block for materials only (excluding cost of transport, contingency etc). based on Dan's estimate it costs 2,850,400 UGX / 1,285 USD per block including transport and contingency.

curtain / curtain rod to divide center of space -- not shown in cost estimate/BOQ. Designed to replace concertina doors. Would like to keep in design if possible. GM: could be community workshop ...

Other:

As of Monday, Dan is an official employee of Building Tomorrow.

Weekly Update #5: May 15, 2010 | darrengill

Sat, 2010-05-15 01:05

Weekly Update #5: May 15, 2010

Site:

Grading is still ongoing – the second platform will be completed today. Very slow week due to many problems with the machine, eg welds breaking, hydraulic pipes bursting, accelerator cable replaced, and continued rain.

Excavated approx an additional 60 cubic metres of marram soil.

Dan visited site and advised re foundations, backfill, and drainage.

Paul Kimera recommended installing drainage gutters to collect water for construction use.

Tender Package:

All copies were distributed.

DG met with Julius (Bezalel Construction) to go through clarifications. Bezalel submitted tender on Friday – see confidential updates section for details.

DG met with Paul Kimera on site to go through clarifications. Paul will submit on Tue.

DG spoke with Robert Matabo who does not need to visit site. He will submit on Wed. Robert recommended removing concrete and steel from piers as per his work at Mpigi.

Budget/VE Revisions

DG is working with the design team to produce a menu of items for group review in an effort to reduce the cost.

GS and JK are preparing analysis of previous BT budgets.

DG to get budget and drawing info from Soft Power early next week and meeting Irish Aid on Wed for same.

All info should be collated by Wed for conference call. Please note proposal to postpone usual call on Tue to Wed at usual time.

Site Visit: Mpigi

Darren, Joseph, Jimmy and Jumba visited Mpigi to asses work. Construction has stalled again due to insufficient bricks. Brickwork on second block is approx 50% complete. DG concerned about number of piers and advised the construction of one additional pier to brace wall which currently shakes. Ongoing question of tying ring beam to structure is evident. Floor slab has not been poured – drawings stipulated this should have happened before walling begins. DG advised this should be rectified on third block.

AOB

Local community meeting was postponed from Thur to Mon due to ongoing work of the Electoral Commission. This meeting is to outline work/contribution sought from the local community, identify 20 people who will receive ISSB training, and begin the process of community mobilization.

Conference Call Notes: May 11, 2010 |

Tue, 2010-05-11 11:11

Weekly Conference Call: May 11, 2010

Attending:

Chris

Hayley

George

Darren

Joyce

Satu

Tender/Contractors:

tender packages have been issued

DG met w directors from bezalel construction (Julius and Eric) today to clarify questions. Johan also director here.

DG met w Robert on Monday morning. Robert said he won't need to go to the site as he will will 'inherit' prepared site and can work off drawings. DG to contact tomorrow and re-offer support for clarifications.

Grading currently taking place.

Original road to site in very bad condition. Good news: there is another road (previously thought this was 'back' road) which is actually a very good road. Will much simplify access to site.

3rd contractor: Paul (Technology for Tomorrow) - DG spoke to Paul on Monday. left drawings in his office on Monday.

expecting bids from all 3 contractors. target date for receiving bids: Friday. Robert may be late

BOQ:

DG included percentages for contingency and transport for uniformity in BOQ (@ 6% each)

usually run at 5% each for transport and contingency, respectively (contractor recommendation)

Grading:

slow. projected at 4-5 days.

currently on day 6. will likely not be finished before end of week

main problem: rain (during which time no one can work), stones, and fixing grading machines

DG happy with quality

fixed price. Johann will probably look for more money. But will likely accept flat fee.

Contract:

small works contract: DG has drafted a few extra clauses to add

final contract will depend largely on material only vs. labor AND material contract

DG: another possible contract or of administering/tracking the contract: Cost plus method:

6 categories. materials is one factor that is fixed (can be sourced by contractor or client.) other factors are worked out as percentage of materials. most contractors don't like it. but it is a useful method. materials have known price. this keeps system honest. does promote transparency. DG to outline via email

Joseph thinks the bids will come back very high.

Budget:

GS: issue is still with overall cost

BT willing to spend more than normal(45k/school) to see a classroom completed

10K for (1) classroom - current estimate - ie: $16.77 USD/SF

ref: Aids Orphans School in Uganda, $20 USD/SF

currently cost is prohibiting replication (from funding perspective)

recent Building Tomorrow projects have finished at 40 - 43K

HM: how much of cost has to do with increased foundation/retaining walls due to sloped site? 2m build-up below floor slab. difficult without cost-comparison break-down. would be interesting to see site-specific costs. to help inform future site selections / replication.

ref: Gita. closest site in terms of quality and level of detail. GS will send out this detailed budget. 51-52,000 USD = total cost.

Life cycle costs of school?

BT has a fund to cover maintenance / repairs

Some elements have not been finished (ie: Gita) in part due to disagreements between architect and contractor ...

Community also helps care for building

Next Steps:

Friday or Monday: will look at budget more closely

what would it take to replicate this classroom on a flatter site?

How does costing compare to other BT projects?

Where do the bids actually come in?

Irish Aid has built primary schools using similar model (community labor, sweat equity) -- DG to track down BOQ from them for comparison

Also: Steve at Softpower - HM to request BOQ from him (they are using ISSB). could be from Ginger school (not finished) or another school.

Value engineering could MAYBE be an option. ex: removing concrete in piers

Production of ISSB:

24,000 bricks needed (6,000 per block. 4 blocks)

at rate of 500 bricks per day with 1 machine, this will take 48 days

trying to find second machine for brick production

Drawings:

HM: details/drawings look great.

need to confirm 300 mm for depth of airspace for underside of battens (not 200 mm). DG to adjust dwg.

insulative material between joists: DG researching sandwhich panel. 2 layers of plywood with insulation. unless factory made, will not stay together very well. Chris: suggestion option of alternate insulative material. DG: woven papyrus mat. could be affixed above or below plywood. this could be one option. DG researching more options as well and will report back to team.

Updated sketchup model: DG could adjust roof section. Volunteer (Alix or Rob) at AFH HQ could adjust remainder per redlines.

Weekly Update #4: May 9, 2010 | darrengill

Sun, 2010-05-09 13:04

Weekly Update #4: May 9, 2010

Site:

Grading is ongoing and is likely to take most of next week to complete. The initial estimate of approx 4 days has been extended due to rain, hitting a lot of stone and other delays. Approx 50 cubic metres of marram soil has been excavated so far (we will need approx 120 cubic metres). Approx 80 cubic metres of hardcore has been excavated but will need sieving/grading by local community to remove soil/organic matter(we need approx 120 cubic metres of hardcore).

Slope across the site and building footprint is steeper as a result of the revised property line – more vertical build up will be required – may need to consider diagonal concrete abutments in plinth walls.

Drawings/Tender Package:

Tender package is complete and is currently being issued to all contractors. Tenders are due back on Friday (14 May). Tender package (including CAD files) has been uploaded to the OAN and distributed digitally to the team. Darren has a hard copy for BT.

Initial feedback from Ewan is very positive but awaiting details.

Budget

The revised BoQ received from Dan is significantly over budget but similar to Gifford and AFH projections based on the previous BoQ. The team need to collectively discuss this and decide how we proceed.

AOB

Cameron is currently in Tokyo for studio session filming of the NHK documentary featuring the Nakaseeta project. Documentary is due to air around May 20th in Japan.

Weekly Update #3: May 5, 2010 | darrengill

Wed, 2010-05-05 07:51

Weekly Update #3: May 5, 2010

Site:

Darren and Jimmy met representatives of the district on site. They quoted 1.44 million UGX (c. $720)/day for the grading job and expected the work to take 2 days.

Darren met Johann Nietsch on site to discuss contracting for the construction project and to quote for the grading works. Quote: 2.5 million for the grading – he expects this to take 3-4 days. Bezule Construction has been contracted to do the grading. A general works agreement has been signed by Johann and has been approved by but is awaiting Joseph’s signature.

Darren set out the site for grading and work commenced Wed (May 5) morning. Significant amounts of good quality soil which can be used to fabricate the ISSBs has already been collected.

In setting out the site the extent of the revised site boundary was a problem. We have lost approx 7m across the width of the site. Darren adjusted the site layout in response to this – the buildings have been moved toward the eastern boundary and rotated slightly to avoid the steep fall off in the south east corner.

Drawings:

Gifford and AFH comments on the previous issue were received and adjustments made by Darren. Minor additions following yesterdays conference call in relation to the build up of the slab will be added. The drawings are ready for tender.

Drawings were issued to Dan for a revised BoQ and ISSB course layout which was due back on Mon/Tue (3/4 May). However, due to illness Dan will not have this complete until Friday.

Drawings and revised BoQ to be sent to Ewan for final approval. Any changes will be made between tender and construction.

Contractor:

Darren met with Johann Nietsch (please refer to separate contractor profile), inspected his work, and brought him to the site. Johann is willing and able to do the construction work.

Still trying to arrange to bring Paul and Robert to the site and inspect their work.

All 3 contractors are awaiting the tender package.

Tender Package:

It was agreed by the team to include the following in the tender package: drawings, form of tender, blank BoQ. The BoQ will make it easier for contractors to price the job and easier for the team to assess the tenders. A draft of the form of tender has been sent to Joyce for comments. It was proposed by Darren and agreed by the team that all contractors must tender for labour only and a full contract.

Tender package is awaiting the BoQ (Friday) and minor changes to the drawings (today) and Form of Tender.

Contract

Two types of contract are currently being assessed; the standard Ugandan contract and; small works contract. Darren and Joyce to assess and adapt to our requirements.

Schedule

Delay due to additional revisions to the drawings and in receiving the BoQ means we can tender on Monday 10th and hopefully start construction work on May 17th.

Conference Call Notes: May 4, 2010 |

Tue, 2010-05-04 10:54

Weekly Conference Call: May 4, 2010

Atttending:

Satu (SJ)

Joyce (JE)

Darren (DG)

George (GS)

Drawing Comments:

Major comments from AFH concern truss and foundation, sent to Darren

foundations: not sure about build-up underneath

2-3 inch slab seems to be typical. Darren: does not seem thick enough. Increased to 5". part of these foundations function as retaining walls.

JE concern: grading in those areas - figuring out appropriate compaction. Defer to Dan to make sure we get this nuanced issues correct in the field.

Contractor Interviews:

1. Paul (Technology for Tomorrow) - arranging site visit. available, willing, able.
2. Robert - death in family delayed site visit and he is off the radar ... unable to arrange visits. Robert has accepted Imgige site work for Building Tomorrow, FYI.
3. Johan - willing, able. accepted offer for excavation work. Signed general work agreement today. Will start grading tomorrow. Expects to take 3 or 4 days. Note: this is a seperate engagement ... nothing to do with construction project.

Tender:

>> we will tender to all 3 contractors and they will get back to us with prices. DG: personal preference and advice: Johan. He is a German contractor / engineer. His work is not exclusively about money. He's very enthusiastic about ethos of what BT is trying to achieve. His company is the largest company - may be more expensive.

Paul would also be excellent.

all contractors awaiting tender package

Small Works Contract:

DG: has not had a chance to review

alternative: standard issue Uganda contract (over 60 pages)

Small Works Contract could be viable option. Can incorporate insurance clauses that are closer to local Ugandan standard.

DG to review and make any recommendations to Joyce. DG: let us know how we can help as you know more

Major intent of contract: set boundaries, change order process, assign liability.

responsibilities will be hard to assign/understand using standard Ugandan contract

Structuring of Contract/Bids:

Normally labor-only contract with contractor -- (BT precedent)

But would also be nice for contractor to take on material procurement portion. This could change the nature of the contract.

George: BT would like to see bid for both options.

Team familiarity with QS and BOQ should encourage competitive, quality bids.

JE: could create bid template for what we would like them to fill in. JE to send samples to Darren. DG also to send his current draft to JE / team for review.

DG: recommendation: include BOQ but leave it blank. So it is clear what material is required. advantage: makes their pricing work much easier. Team is on board with this.

Other:

DG will post weekly update.

made test bricks with Dan. community engagement has been fantastic. James in particular. starting to ask questions about using these bricks to build his OWN house!

###

Conference Call Notes: April 27, 2010 |

Tue, 2010-04-27 10:46

Weekly Conference Call: April 27, 2010

Atttending:

Jessica

Satu

Gretchen

Joyce

Darren +/-

George

Drawing Schedule:

Jessica and Hayley / AFH / George to send drawing comments to Darren by Wednesday

Darren has also given drawings to Dan for BOQ update; awaiting reply

Darren to complete revisions by Monday, May 3rd (if possible)

Gretchen: would recommend final peer review by local architect and Ewan (Arup) once Gifford and AFH comments have been reviewed/incorporated.

Target date for Ewan comments Monday, May 10

Local architect to sign drawings week of May 10

Drawing Comments / Site Developments

Darren having trouble joining call due to connection

GM: rebar going from footing to wall to truss - important to see connections

Jessica and team to send mark-up/comments by email - should not affect BOQ, mostly related to reinforcement

Darren: Q about gauge of steel. Jessica responded.

Darren meeting Johan Nietsch (3rd contractor) on site tomorrow morning

This should sort out contractor selection

Team did not feel compelled to go with 2nd contractor, but Darren will check out his work.

GS: Darren can interview alone if Joseph cannot attend

Grader will be on site in the morning to assess

site has been cleared; grading scheduled for next week

On target for schedule; just waiting on drawing comments and Darren will incorporate

Next Week Call

Gifford will try to attend call with at least 1 representative for the next few weeks

Gretchen will be out next week; JE and SJ will be on call

next time AFH will call Darren directly on his cell phone from conference line. this should not cost Darren any money. Darren be sure to charge cell phone battery.

###

Weekly Update #2: April 26, 2010 | darrengill

Mon, 2010-04-26 06:58

Weekly Update #2: April 26, 2010

Site:

Site clearance is complete. James and the local community will burn the site before grading takes place.

Awaiting confirmation of contractor to have him involved in grading. Darren to set out grading this week.

Drawings:

Gifford issued mark ups on 19th April as they were unable to revise and issue drawings by 21st. Darren revised and issued tender drawings to the team on Friday 23rd for review. Unless there are major concerns raised these drawings can be issued to contractors on 27/28th. Additional info/detail and minor changes (as identified) will be added by Darren and issued as construction drawings.

Contractor:

Several delays/cancellations of the meeting with the second contractor highlighted his lack of interest in/availability to the project and he is no longer being considered.

Joseph and Darren met with Robert Matabo (possible contractor) on Friday 23rd. All 3 to visit one of Robert’s sites on Monday and go to Nakaseeta. See separate contractor profile for more detail.

Isaac was unable to recommend specific contractors but identified several local architects who may be able to advise – Darren to follow up.

Still unable to contact Johan Nietsch.

Material Research:

Solar chimney – one option detailed by Darren as per the tender drawings.

Following numerous delays Dan, Darren and the local community finally on Sat 24th made a full selection of ISSBs for testing. See separate update for details.

Schedule

Delay in ISSB fabrication will push back training by a week. This is not a major problem as there will still be time for the bricks to cure before superstructure walling takes place. Strength test to take place on May 21st.

Continued delays in identifying and meeting contractors has delayed the schedule by approx 1 week. Construction will not start on May 3rd. May 10th is more realistic.

Conference Call Notes: April 20, 2010 |

Tue, 2010-04-20 09:21

Weekly Conference Call: April 20, 2010

Atttending:

Jessica

Hayley

Satu

Gretchen

Darren

George

General:

main point of contact for Darren: Jimmy (site); also Joseph (logistics, city)

Darren to ask Joseph to attend calls

Citical Issues / Schedule:

have not yet made test blocks (vehicle they were traveling in got impounded by police)

likely to take place tomorrow

will take taxi to Mukono; rent pickup from there

training to be pushed back one week

Dan to accompany Darren for site visit

2nd Contractor:

meeting scheduled for late tomorrow afternoon

may have 3rd lead from Isaac

Tender package / Construction:

BT not accustomed to this procedure; would like more guidance

BT usually requires BOQ, but no signed agreement

what about unforseen costs? BT: contractor does not take responsibility for items left out. only labor cost does not change.

BT provides for materials cost, contractor for labor cost

Does contractor provide a construction schedule? BT: yes, but delays are common

option proposed by George: create incentive for contractor to finish by certain date?

concern: could this compromise quality of workmanship? (Jessica)

Schedule / Contractor:

Darren: one contractor said he could do this in 3 mo

Joseph: construction normally takes 5-6 mo

Darren: hard to predict schedule. will know more once on site.

George comfortable with contractor selected by Darren & Joseph

need to be careful to gauge contractor work load, so they are not overbooked

no formal tender process

key question: availability

norm seems to be that general contractor is on site 2-3 days per week. foreman is on site every day.

Drawings:

Darren adding additional elements / revisions to drawing package

will give these to local architect

resizing of timber: Jessica: does not recommend. Darren in agreement to keep size as is.

note: broken weld at Gita has not been fixed. Jessica to send photo to George. advise to fix.

###

Weekly Update #1: April 17, 2010 | darrengill

Sat, 2010-04-17 06:48

Weekly Update #1: April 17, 2010

Site:

The property issue has been resolved – the eastern site boundary is slightly west of where previous site clearance work had taken place. The site may be narrower and longer than originally thought. Darren to check dimensions relative to the extg site drawing. There is still ample space for the extg site plan.

Site clearance is under way and nearly complete. James[enthusiastic local community worker] has been very successful at organizing local community volunteers. Expect grader on site late next week or earlier the week after.

Personnel:

Darren has met with the full Building Tomorrow team in Uganda: Joseph, Jimmy, Apollo and Ciprian.

Local community mobilization has gone very well – Darren and Jimmy are in regular contact with James.

GET will be closing down at the end of the month. A very good relationship with Dan [GET engineer] has been established. Both sides have expressed their desire and willingness to continue working together on this project.

Drawings:

Have received advice from Dan with regard to all revisions, but still awaiting feedback from Ewan.

Gifford can't complete drawings by April 21st - drawings to be forwarded to Darren to complete.

Four copies of the drawings to be printed and signed off for construction by the architect of record [local architect] and submitted to the council.

Drawings to be issued to tendering contractors by end of next week.

Contractor:

Joseph and Darren met with possible contractor, Paul Kimera, of Technology for Tomorrow. He came highly recommended to Joseph and was also recommended by Dan independently. He has a lot of experience with ISSB technology and has worked as GC on several projects. Joseph and Darren to visit some of these buildings and the site with Paul. Paul believes three months is a realistic build time.

Another meeting with different contractor scheduled for Tuesday

Still waiting to hear back from Isaac on recommendations, and have been trying to contact Johan Nietsch.

Material Research:

Outstanding questions re materials and construction mostly answered as per conference call notes – strapping and solar chimney sandwich panels still outstanding.

Approx 20 ISSBs will be fabricated on Monday for strength testing. Dan to oversee fabrication and testing.

Schedule

ISSB fabrication has been delayed and will push back the training by 2-3 days. This is not a major problem as there will still be time for the bricks to cure before superstructure walling takes place.

Grading may be pushed back to allow contractor to be more involved.

Expect to be starting construction work on May 3rd.

AOB

Darren is in Kampala staying with his friend at Ntinda. He expects to be in Kampala until the end of next week, before moving to Mukono

The Japanese film crew will depart on Sunday.

BT had their largest annual fund raiser last night – hope it went well!

Conference Call Notes: April 13, 2010 |

Tue, 2010-04-13 07:48

Weekly Conference Call: April 13, 2010

Atttending:

Jessica

Chris

Hayley

Joyce

Satu

Gretchen

Darren

Joseph

Meeting with Dan:

Useful meeting with Dan today

received updated information re: grading, foundation etc for updating drawings

Schedule

hope to be on site by May 3rd

Rain just kicked in - torrential rain (will determine schedule)

hoping for grading next week

soil (for bricks) transported to site end of next week

start moving other materials on site thereafter

Grading

Dan hopes that grading process will yield more soil for bricks

Dan will be on site for grading (should only take one day)

boundary dispute was resolved yesterday

may have lost a little land - will see tomorrow

will not start grading during massive rain/rain forecast

Contractor

do not have a contractor yet

hoping to have a contractor on board

meeting one on friday and scheduling several other meetings

Grading

source of revenue for council - they're happy to do this on short notice

projection: it will take one day, but willing to work for longer

cost was not including in first bill of quantities

Gifford: cost of grading should be coming out of 40K budget. Darren to confirm.

Bill of Quantities

some of Dan's quantity numbers are over-the-top

will clarify with Dan with updated drawings to see where cost difference lies

Darren already spoke to Dan about various drawing changes and he's on board -- this will bring things down to more 'normal' quantities.

Construction changes (per Darren's notes)

Columns/Piers – Dan recommends ISSB piers as per the attached the attached drawing. Re-bar to tie structure together set into a weak concrete infill. I have inspected pers which are 2 ISSBs wide and they seem excessive – Dan agrees. I don’t know what gauge of steel to use – please advise. Are you happy with this? However, sketch is not finished as steels will have to bend to tie into ring beam – not ideal – this is the same as the concrete column option.

Beams – Dan recommends a uniform ring beam 140 x 200mm – he says this is the standard dimension he recommends. He also wants to keep the party wall with column/pier and ring beam.

Foundations – subject to grading and site inspection – Dan will be present for grading so this is subject to change. Please see attached drawing.

Slab – 75mm RC slab, no screed but finished with cement water mix to give durable finish. See attached drawing. Requires formwork.

Stud Walls – Dan recommends a version of the standard stud wall (they don’t do plasterboard in Uganda). It’s the same build up as most ceilings – timber studs, battens, expanding mesh, plaster – haven’t had time to draw this yet.

Panels (above ring beam) – Dan has concern (though accepting this is the local way) about the stability of loose courses of ISSBs with nothing tieing them to the structure and without lateral stability. It can be done but he also recommended extending timber slats around the upper part of the building. As discussed, rain protection is key here.

Solar chimney – see attached sketch - 8/10/12mm ply is available – obvious answer is studding out the 2m span and fixing the ply to these studs. I will look in more detail at possible sandwich panels. However, I would like the underside to be flush but Dan had a question over unobstructed airflow so perhaps the inside to be flush – can you advise on the science here – Chris, I think this is your area of expertise?

Rainwater harvesting – Dan has developed a 10,000l tank which costs approx 1,350,000 UGX (plastic versions is twice this), I will look at what capacity we need, but good news.

Process

last round of revisions must come from Hayley and Jessica

H+J will vet changes from Ewan and team and update drawings

need drawing revisions to be signed off by local architect

do not need to submit another copy to the council - Darren to confirm

shooting for 21st for updated drawings

will re-price thereafter

contractor is providing price for labor; BT is providing for material

Joseph suggests it will take 3-4 days to get pricing from contractor

Darren

Darren staying at City Annex at the moment

moving to friend's house this evening.

ISSB Training

will bring soil back from site for strength test tomorrow

strength testing takes 28 days

training (led by Dan) will start Monday, May 17th

will start superstructure and walling 2 weeks thereafter

training set to produce 4-500 bricks per machine per day by day 4

Call Schedule CHANGE

Future calls will be postponed by 1hr:
9:30am PDT (AFH) / 12:30am EDT (George) / 7:30pm EAT (Joseph + Darren) / 5:30pm GMT (Gifford)

###

Meeting Notes, City Annex Hotel, Kampala: April 9, 2010 | darrengill

Sat, 2010-04-10 05:09

Meeting Notes, City Annex Hotel, Kampala: April 9, 2010

Attendance:

Darren

Joseph

This was a preliminary meeting to arrange the schedule for next week and introduce ourselves

Schedule:

Sat – Joseph to meet surveyor, family etc on site and finally resolve the property dispute. He is confident this will be the last meeting. Joseph to also arrange site clearance work to restart.

Mon – BT to do orientation with Darren – meet the staff and general Kampala logisitics. Joseph and Darren to meet with GET to discuss various issues and line up training for this week.

Tue – site visit to Nakaseeta – push site clearance, assess grading.

Wed/Thur/Fri – GET Training one day – fabricate ISSBs for 28 day strength test; Visits to Mpigi, Gita and other sites – material research and assess specific construction issues raised at Gifford meetings; contact contractors

Timeline – the council are waiting on the call to do the grading so can commence once clearance is complete. Transport of soil to site will take one day. Fabrication of the ISSBs can then commence (very time consuming) – ISSBs must cure for 10 days prior to use. Initial contact and previous work inspections of possible contractors to start this week. Full construction work to commence May

Meeting Minutes, Gifford Offices, London, Part II: April 7 2010 | darrengill

Thu, 2010-04-08 03:16

Meeting Minutes, Gifford Offices, London, Part II: April 7 2010

Attendance: :

Darren

Jessica

Hayley

Farah

Chris

(Kaz)

Gifford Presentation:

Gifford went through a presentation they have shown to several organizations in order to outline some of the key aspects of the design.

Thermal Mass:

- used extensively through brick work and wattle/daub infill to absorb heat from the internal space and to absorb cool air at night.

Stratification:

- the building is quite tall (c.2.9m to top of ring beam) – this is common in Ugandan schools and should be maintained to help drive stack ventilation.

Openings & Overhang:

- large openings and the approx 1m overhang around the perimeter ensure shading and weather protection while providing ample natural light and ventilation.

Connectivity:

- low cill windows and large doors provide strong visual and physical connects from inside to outside.

Flexibility:

- central to the original brief – concertina door now omitted and replaced with curtains for cost reasons. Security not essential but space division options should be upheld. Gifford have potential alternative detail for this.

Display Surfaces:

- chalk boards/notice boards/cork boards intended for main doors. Some version of this will improve the teaching/learning facilities. Free standing panels serve a similar function.

Solar Chimney:

- serves 3 functions – 1. Block solar radiation from the tin, 2. Drive ventilation, 3. Improve internal acoustics to allow teachers voice to project more easily. Fabrication of 4 sandwich panel boxes to sit between trusses and size/location of opes was discussed. Mesh required over opes to prevent animals/leaves entering. Exit ope to be set back from overhang to prevent rain water entering. It was agreed certain testing must take place on site.

General Review:

Panels Above Ring Beam:

- Front panel to be timber lats. Side and back panels ideally to be brick as per standard Ugandan practice – these are used to secure trusses. Exact layout/design tbd – Gifford to revise as part of next drawing issue. However, subject to change following additional research by Darren

Veranda:

- maintained principally to protect foundations from surface water but expect to be removed in parts due to cost. Priority to be given to front and back – sides not as important. Rail to be located at front of upper 2 blocks

RW Harvesting:

-Excluded thus far for cost purposes. Agreed we should push for this to be included. Plastered OSB box discussed as one cheap option for storage tank. This will also protect foundations if veranda is removed. Drainage channels to be dug around site plan.

Library/Office Layout:

-Agreed as per option 2. Brick course does not fit but walls could be replaced with something lighter – stud walls?

Grading:

- Requires very close inspection. Grading carried out by local council but retaining wall and site layout must be first carried out by contractor. Significant back fill required. GET to test soil again after grading.

External Columns:

- are not structural but used to tie truss down. Various strapping options discussed. Gifford to take advice from colleagues. External columns can be completely removed if suitable strapping system to agreed. Darren to visit Mpigi and Gita to assess strapping and propose alternatives.

Foundations:

- Gifford advised in Uganda to use fired brick due to weathering concerns. Must be set in virgin ground – be careful when grading.

ISSBs:

- Soil for these is offset (approx 15 min drive). Transport will be difficult but council have recently improved road access. Strength test at university after 28 days. Darren must get bricks made asap for testing. Gifford hoping for 4kN rating.

Brick Piers:

- Gifford to consult with Dan – Darren to follow up from Kampala.

Contractors:

- Johan Kietsch recommended to Gifford – Darren to follow up. Joseph/BT also currently pursuing this. Darren to visit previous work to assess ability.

Logistics:

- LOTS of contacts, recommendations, general advice, insider knowledge etc was passed on to Darren ranging from transport to exchange rates and community mobilization to IT training programs…

Immediate Actions:

Darren to get dimensions of beams/columns from Ewan

Gifford to size brick piers in consultation with Dan

Gifford to revise and issue all drawings within 2 weeks (April 21). Darren offered to help with this and extended the offer of other AFHers in the San Francisco office.

Future Arrangements:

After the next issue of drawings Darren to advise team on possible alterations/additions/problems as they arise, and propose solutions. It was generally accepted that review may not be possible at all times but a good understanding and agreement exists as to how revisions should be treated.

Meeting minutes, Gifford Offices, London, Part I: April 7, 2010 | darrengill

Wed, 2010-04-07 07:40

Meeting minutes, Gifford Offices, London, Part I: April 7, 2010

Attendance:

Darren
Jessica
Hayley
Farah
Chris

Peer Review (from Ewan Smith at Arup):

Beams

- can be reduced. Darren to contact Ewan and seek appropriate dimensions.

Columns

- can be reduced or better, replaced with brick piers. Ewan to advise and Gifford to recommend

Foundations

– Gifford can not design these as no soil info is available and software not compatible with brick strengths in Uganda. BT/GET/Soft Power to advise.

AFH Review:

Infill wall & Windows

– Gifford to look at how this can be revised. Darren recommended pushing window to external wall & removing lintel. Masonry base with thermal mass to be retained as absorption is from inside the building. Dan has ISSB layout for this.

Party Wall

– Gifford in favour of replacing with a more flexible option. Soft Power school at Jinja cited as good example. Darren to assess on site.

ISSB:

– Gifford advised that strict checks need to be maintained on site. GET advise 6/7 barrows to 1 bag cement but at other BT site (Pigi – spelling?) 10:1 was being used. George has agreed to strength test these bricks at the university. Nakaseeta bricks will also be tested. Basic test advised: leave cured brick in water for 24hrs – if it crumbles it’s no good. Bricks take one week to cure. Community to make bricks. Arup jig to be sourced and used to ensure uniform 5mm joints.

Conference Call Notes: March 30, 2010 |

Tue, 2010-03-30 10:23

Conference Call Notes: March 30, 2010

Attendance:

Gretchen Mokry

Satu Jackson

George

Darren

Joyce

Joseph

Local Architect:

Joseph explained comments from local architect

Update on permit (local architect) – depends on local architect approval

-ring beam comment: ring beam too big, columns too large

-veranda comment: size needs to be confirmed

comments are consistent with review from Ewan (Arup) and internal review

AFH thinks we can scale back in 5-6 different areas

AFH will outline steps for this and who will do it

may fall to AFH scope (vs. Hayley and Jessica) -- TBD

Next Steps:

AFH will speak to Hayley and Jessica - will need their write-off on all changes

George working on placing engineer in the field in Uganda

Darren will be negotiator between Arup and Gifford - group revision strategy

intent: keep the essence of design and work within budget and constructiblity, and maximize delight

BOQ:

will review group comments with Good Earth Trust (Dan) and ask for 2nd version once the team has pooled comments/suggestions (Ewan, AFH, BT, Gifford)

fairly hopeful that BOQ price will come down

Elections/Political Climate:

troubles one week ago ... tension around burning of tombs. calm now.

elections are at end of the year.

elections can be very intense

may be advisable to leave country and come back after election - at certain point, but not now

Joseph lives outside Kampala

some rural areas are more troublesome (riots, etc) than urban areas (no police, communications)

will ask Darren to coordinate with Joseph and Isaac (AFH design fellow in Kenya) about AFH exit strategy, for emergencies

climate: rains on short notice - causing construction delays

Darren will email George and Joseph (and team) ideas for reducing cost

team will meet in UK next week

will request revisions to drawings for the following week

will request local architect sign-off thereafter

Conference Call

team call next week (Tuesday) - see email for details

Darren will be in UK next week Tuesday April 6 am ... leaving for Uganda on Thursday

BT will stand by to join in conversation w UK team next week

###

Site clearing / tender documents: March 22, 2010 |

Mon, 2010-03-22 13:58

Gifford sustainability engineers, Jessica Robinson and Hayley Maxwell -- part of the design team for the Nakaseeta Academy -- just returned from a 5-week stay in Uganda where they completed the project tender documents, met local partners, and oversaw initial site clearing. The team is currently reviewing the latest project cost estimates. The ISSB brick making machine has arrived on site. Design Fellow, Darren Gill will arrive in Uganda in mid April to spearhead construction efforts.

Gifford site visit diary LINK |

Mon, 2010-03-22 13:44

Gifford sustainability engineers, Hayley Maxwell and Jessica Robinson, just finished a 5-week stay in Uganda to complete the tender documents, meet with local partners, and initiate the site clearing process. Check out their project diary: http://www.gifford.uk.com/about-us/uganda-project-diary/

Schedule: February, 2010 |

Thu, 2010-02-04 17:49

Gifford in Uganda: Feb 20 – March 20, 2010
George in Kampala until Feb 24, 2010