Painting the exterior of the classroom building.
Color has been popping up all over the Pele site over the past week! Painting has commenced on the classroom building and the basketball court.
When finished, the classroom building will look like the rendering below:
Look familiar?
The main body of the classroom building will be teal with blue trim. The colors match the colors of the school’s uniform colors.
Each of the classrooms also have their own identifying colors. So far the construction crew has started on classroom 1, which has been painted a shade of lime green.
When finished, each classroom will have its own color like the rendering below:
Work on the basketball court is officially complete! The lines for the court were painted last week. Now, let the games begin…
While painting was occurring on the ground floor, the gutter system was successfully installed on the second floor. However, the cisterns still have to be installed on the ground floor.
We anticipate the classroom building will be completed by next week, which is the start of the new school year here in Haiti!
Despite the outbreak of violence around the Pele and Cite Soleil neighborhoods over the past few weeks, work has progressed(though slowly) on the Pele site. Work is coming to a close for the classroom building and the basketball court, with the contractor giving AfH Friday, September 21st as their date of significant completion.
Last week, the last of the metal windows and doors were installed in the classroom building. The concrete sills for the ground floor windows were also cast.
All metalwork has been installed and sills have been cast in place.
Close-up view of the window sill.
Corrugated aluminum flashing was also installed on the ends of the roof trusses.
The flashing is the same material used for the roof of the classroom building.
One of the ends finished with the aluminum flashing.
Plywood was also placed on the interior of the roof ends as well as a partition in between the classrooms on the second floor in order to close off the spaces.
Plywood partition between the classrooms.
Work to be completed on the classroom building this week includes:
1. The building has been primed, but the final coats of paint must still be applied to the walls and the metalwork(currently being completed.)
2. Gutters and downpipes must be installed and connected to the cisterns.
The basketball court is just one step away from completion. The posts for the backboard and hoop have been installed. The only task that remains is the painting of the lines, which is also currently being completed as I type this update.
Only the painting of the lines remain...
Attachment of the post to the embedded base plate.
Work slowly progressed on the Pele site this week.
Workers were prime painting the Classroom Building walls. Colors for the exterior and interior were approved and finalized this week. We should begin to see some color on the Building’s walls next week!
Some of the metalwork also arrived on site. Doors and windows for the lower classrooms were installed. Note the red color on the metalwork is the color of the primer. They will soon be a lovely shade of blue to match the exterior.
Workers installing the window and door (metalwork).
A closer view of the metal work installation from the exterior.
A view from the interior.
The window and door metalwork is comprised of a metal tube frame with smaller intermediate tubes supporting both solid panels and metal deploye(mesh) for security.
A window and door combo unit.
Simply a three bay window unit.
There has not really been any progress on the Toilet Building this week.
The Basketball Court slab pour was also completed and is now curing. The backboard should arrive on site and will be installed within the upcoming week.
A view from the temporary classrooms, facing West to the perimeter wall.
A view from the perimeter wall facing the temporary classrooms.
Base plate anchored in the concrete awaiting the backboard’s arrival.
This week’s progress was slow again in-part due to police activity in the neighborhood which caused the site to shut down early twice this week.
We’ve had ongoing meetings this week with the School Director, community leaders and a few other third party outsiders to help figure a solution to resolve the tension and insecurities that have been plaguing this site. Meeting recaps with notes to follow shortly.
This morning the contractor went to verify the construction site was as prepared as can be for a visit from Hurricane Isaac.
Excavation for the toilet building’s foundation has begun! From the pictures you will notice that the toilet building excavation has run into the same problem of water pooling as the classroom building had.
An overall picture of the excavation for the toilet building.
A more close-up view of the water pooling in the excavated area.
Progress has been continuing on the Nike Gamechangers basketball court at Pele. The base for the court has been graded and leveled in preparation for the slab pour. The contractor is currently working on laying out the rebar grid.
An overall picture of the site being cleared and prepared for reinforcement placement.
Rebar being put into place by the contractor.
Rebar laid out in the haunches of the court.
Detail of the reinforcement in the haunches. Notice the rebar appears bowed. When all of the rebar has been placed, small concrete stands will be put into the haunches to ensure that all reinforcement members are straight.
Steady progress on the roof construction of Pele continued this week! The wood trusses were lifted and put into the truss clips earlier in the week, but in order to fully secure the trusses in place and for them to act as one system, the purlins and cross-bracing members were added as quickly as possible. After these members were in place, the aluminum roofing sheets were nailed to the purlins (wood members running perpendicular across the top of the trusses).
Here is an overall view of the roof construction so far...
Cross bracing members and purlins are being put into place.
Next come the roofing sheets, which are nailed into the purlins. Notice the lovely shade of blue! It will go nicely with the color scheme chosen for the building’s exterior.
The construction of the roof is not fully complete, but a glimpse into the final product is clear: natural light will spill into the upper-story classroom spaces.
In additional news, surveying for the toilet building (which is located next to the classroom building) has also begun.
On the other side of the property, work is also continuing on the Nike Gamechangers basketball court. Notice the workers leveling and preparing the ground.
Last Friday the design team met with Chederick, the school director, in order to discuss and approve the submittals for exterior/interior colors as well as the clarification sketches for the metalwork on the windows, doors, and handrails.
Chederick approved the color choice for the exterior of the classroom building. The final color scheme was chosen based upon the colors of the school uniforms, blue and sea foam green.
Each interior classroom will also be painted a different color in order to give a distinct color identity to each space.
Colors for the Nike Gamechangers basketball court were also approved. The lines will be painted blue to match the color scheme on the classroom building.
Clarification sketches were also provided to Chederick to approve the updated design for the windows, doors, and handrails.
The ground floor entry slab was poured yesterday. The photo above is an image of the finished floor pour!
Here was the process for the slab pour:
As you may remember from our last post, the rebar grid was incorrectly executed. More rebar was added in the haunches for proper reinforcement.
In this photo, an individual from the construction crew finishes up ties on the rebar cage.
Concrete from the mixer was poured into the rebar grid.
The concrete was raked out and vibrated (long hose looking contraption).
And finally, a construction crew member troweled the concrete in order to create a smooth finish.
Demolition has begun for the Nike Gamechangers basketball court site at Pele! Today the construction crew started clearing and removing a concrete landing that was in the way of the court. Temporary shelters that were also previously on site were relocated. The basketball court will be a modified junior high school basketball court. The court will be used by the Pele schoolchildren as well as the greater Pele neighborhood.
Previous condition of the location for the basketball court.
Workers are starting to clear the debris and rubble on the basketball site.
Workers removing a concrete landing which infringes upon the basketball court site.
As you can see from picture 1, from our completed staircase in a previous project, the treads have developed some minor cracks with time. Since the same design is to be used at Pele, we now want to avoid the cracks. To do that, we propose to flip the existing stairs upside down and remove the plate that use to hold the concrete. A grill will be placed right under the frame angles. That grill will be supported first by angles welded at equal distance along the length of the tread. Each of those support angles will form a 90 degree angle with the 1,80 m frame angles. The grill is further supported by angles welded diagonally in the spaces left between the first supports. See picture 2 for more details:
Picture 1- Existing stairs from previous project.
Picture 2- How the new stairs will look like.
Picture 3- What we have now for the treads.
Picture 4- Sketch of a detailed tread shaped like a bowl holding the concrete.
Current overall view of the site.
Yesterday, the AFH team visited Pele with two goals in mind: to inspect the rebar grid for the concrete entry slab pour and to inspect the second floor poured ring beam with embedded truss clips.
The AFH team inspecting the layout of the rebar for the entry slab pour. The rock infill to the right will be evenly laid out under the steel stairs. An edge will be created in order to confine the rock in place.
Rebar has been laid out for the ground slab entry pour. Notice the closeness of the rebar prepared for the slab pour with the rebar currently sticking up from ground for the landing column. A separation must exist between each pour for the column and the slab.
What we found by inspecting the rebar grid for the entry slab pour was that the rebar was not appropriately laid out according to the clarification sketch provided to JB (see previous update for sketch). The grid was correct in respect to sizing, but the appropriate reinforcement in the haunches were lacking. The rebar will be inspected an additional time before the pour.
The ring beam is still undergoing curing. After a total of 28 days the jacks will be removed and the trusses can be installed.
Don’t be alarmed! Although there are small concrete shards on top of the ring beam, they are just from the removal of the formwork. The ring beam will eventually be covered with crepissage and a finishing layer of enduisage. The truss clips, which were embedded in the ring beam pour, are awaiting the installation of the trusses.
And here they are…the trusses have arrived on site! After the ring beam has fully cured, they will be installed. We look forward to the full completion of the truss installation very soon...
Also, while we were on site we were excited to see debris was being cleared in order to start excavation for the latrine building.
From a site visit today it is evident that steady progress is being made on the Pele job site. The ground floor entry has been graded and prepared for the slab’s steel grid to be laid before the concrete pour.
See the concrete walk clarification sketch below:
Grading and preparation of the ground for the steel grid and concrete pour. Classroom interiors in the distance.
Notice the rebar cages sticking up from the ground for the landing’s columns. They are waiting to be tied into the landing beam’s cage.
Preparation of the ground for the steel grid placement and subsequent concrete pour.
Overall view of the current site.
Fabrication of the steel staircase has also begun. A more detailed update on the progress of the stairs will follow this post shortly!
Today members from the AFH design team met with the JB team in order to inspect a second sample of roof trusses. The initial inspection of a sample roof truss held on June 13th yielded concerns, therefore the truss was rebuilt according to several comments and suggestions provided to JB by AFH. Today we were pleasantly surprised by the progress being made. We inspected a total of 6 trusses, with an additional one being fabricated while we were present. Plenty of materials were stockpiled at the shop in order to complete the work. What we found today was that the truss’s height and length, as well as gusset plate size were correct. Splice point locations did not interfere with gusset plate locations as they had on the June 13th sample truss.
In response to reviewing the trusses today, we provided JB with comments to proceed fabrication with. One concern was truss members lacking in the appropriate number of nails. Some truss members currently have 3 or 4 nails per gusset plate. However, it was stressed that each member is to have a minimum of 5 nails holding it to its gusset plate. Existing trusses will be changed in order to adhere to this standard. Concerns were also raised in respect to the general assembly of members. We stressed to JB that they need to verify that all gusset plates were flush with the top/bottom chord members and web members’ junctions need to touch both top/bottom chords. The trusses are currently being stored flat on the ground of the shop. AFH raised the concern that the completed trusses need to be stored elevated in order to prevent rotting and warping.
We will be eagerly awaiting JB’s call to notify us when the trusses will be installed on site.
Truss being fabricated while we were visiting the shop.
Truss being held up in order to be properly inspected.
Plenty of materials stockpiled on site to finish fabrication. Notice the pre-cut gusset plates.
Pile of 6 “completed” sample trusses. Notice that the splice plates do not interfere with the gusset plates. Correct change!
Some of the plywood gusset plate members are splitting.
Web members should be touching the top and bottom chords of the truss.
Classroom Block: This block is currently at 85% completion, scheduled for substantial completion July 7, 2012. In addition, the construction of the perimeter wall has been completed.
Toilet block: Contractor is set to begin construction following final Q&A on construction drawings. Construction on the toilet block is scheduled to begin on June 27. The estimated time of construction on this block is 2 months.
Basketball court: Scheduled to begin construction June 25, after school is out. Estimated time of construction for the basketball court is 3 weeks.
Final completion, which includes handing off keys to the School Principal, Chedrick Caneus is estimated for August 15, 2012.
AfH is still reviewing the contractor’s recently submitted change orders, but the construction has continued pretty smoothly for the past two weeks on-site. This was mainly possible due to the outcome of the meeting held with the Committee formed by community members...meeting minutes to follow.
We resume with the block walls.
The first course of block for the Upper Floor being built. Notice the balcony slab with formwork at its edge in the midground.
More blocks laid up to window sill height.
Last week, they were about 60% up to door height throughtout the Upper Floor.
The next things to resolve are the windows/door design and the roof truss clip that will be embedded in the ringbeam.
Yesterday we had our weekly scheduled meeting to discuss the project and its status.
The meeting started with discussing the possibility of two artists (present at meeting) fabricating the windows and doors for the Classroom Bldg. After a 15 minute discussion, it was realized that the artists didn’t want to work on a project that another artist started for superstitious reasons. This is a cultural belief we have encountered several times here in Haiti. We don’t have to fully understand it, but we have to respect it.
We then discussed the security issues, time delays and how they relate. The contractor discussed AfH’s role in added delays and submitted Change Order #14 with a timeline for review.
They also issued Change Order #15 for review. This is for additional bars and labor needed to reduce the Upper Slab’s spacing from 300mm to 200mm on center each direction.
…meeting minutes to follow shortly.
Late Friday evening last week, we received a call from Mr. Chedrick on his way from a meeting with the community. The meeting was about reopening school and under what conditions…this took a week, less time than Mr. Chedrick expected.
He just called to inform us that school will reopen on Monday. And that the community wants to set up a committee, made up of pre-established neighborhood groups, to discuss how to help get the construction started back up.
So the morning of Monday 23 April, school was reopened for the students and staff.
The construction is expected to resume after a meeting with the Neighborhood Committee.
So as discussed, the second half of the slab was poured Tuesday morning.
At 7:00am, they pretty much picked up where they left off the day before.
Notice the day old cured concrete in the background as the worker vibrates the wet mix in the foreground.
By 1:00pm, they were pouring the last bit a of the slab.
FINALLY!!! THE COMPLETELY POURED UPPER FLOOR SLAB!
View from the balcony in front of Classroom 4.
View from the stair landing facing Classroom 3.
Two weeks ago, we scheduled to begin having Weekly Project Meetings…this past Tuesday was our first. Meeting Minutes to follow shortly, but with all the activity on-site Monday, you can imagine the first agenda item discussed. Present at this meeting was the School Director (Mr. Chedrick Caneus), three representatives from JB Immobilier et Construction, plus two from AfH.
Topics discussed include:
1. The curing of the Upper Floor Slab.
2. The window/door design and fabrication for the Classroom Bldg.
3. Missing balcony handrails in Classroom Bldg BOQ.
4. Fabricating and installing the roof truss.
5. Version 3.0 of the Toilet Bldg.
6. Time delays as a whole, including potential construction end date.
7. Possible change order for additional steel and labor for steel in the Upper Floor Slab.
8. Additional steel for the exterior concrete walk on the Ground Floor.
9. The basketball court construction and its scheduling.
Also, Mr. Chedrick discussed his decision shut down all school activity, including construction until further notice. He described this as due to all the outside interference and “menaces” happening at the site.
At the beginning of this meeting, it was explained what actually happened Monday on-site. Supposedly a fourth group of local “bandits” found out another guy they have problems with was working on-site. Monday when they came on-site looking for him, he was able to sneak off and returned with three Police Officers…that’s when most of the workers on-site fled. After the coast was clear, these “bandits” returned to deliver their threatening message to all outsiders, especially those who aided in their enemy‘s escape. Even though Mr. Chedrick has been in the area since the 80’s, this is when he decided enough was enough, time to shut down for the safety of all on-site.
When he was asked for how long, he answered long enough for the community to feel the burden and stand up for their School. He explained that it already started when he called parents and sent students home early on Tuesday afternoon. Community members began to realize how serious he was about the closing. Mr. Chedrick anticipates the closing to last less than 2 weeks. (In the meantime the freshly poured slab will cure.)
Monday morning things were finally coming together to pour the slab...but first there were a few more corrections to be made.
The slab's rebars were respaced @ 200mm on center.
Take a closer look.
This was revised since the smaller (10mm) #4 "econo" bars were used instead of the design intended (12.6mm) #4 bars. All that was missing at this point were the 2m "high hat" bars that run across the tops of the beams.
A view of the beam with the right amount of steel, according to the drawings.
By 8:00am the stage was set. They started mixing with all hands on deck and began pouring the slab.
A view of them vibrating air pockets out of the slab.
Notice the balcony already poured and floated smooth in the distance. Those vertical bars will be used to reinforce the cmu wall.
11:30am, everything was going well when we checked in with our two Outreach Site Supervisors (Gerald Jeanty & Ulrick Pierre) on-site. They reported of over 35 workers present for the pour and felt very ambitious to finish by 6pm.
At 2:27pm, Police appeared on-site. About two-thirds of the workers fled the site, hopping the 3m high perimeter wall. That's when things started to get out of hand. Police were brought to the school by an informant looking for suspected “bandits” who were threatening him. With a little less than half of the slab poured, work on-site stopped.
By 3:30pm, the slab pouring resumed, but quickly stopped again with “bandits” returning on-site threatening outsiders not from the area...even other workers there pouring the slab. The contractor quickly formed up a vertical joint to terminate the pour for the day.
By 4:45pm, everyone packed up and left, including remaining construction workers and all school staff.
By 7:50pm, after a myriad of conference calls and conversations, a consensus was reached to try to pour the remainder of the slab Tuesday morning.
At the end of the work day yesterday (Friday), the contractor contacted AfH to say they will not be able to pour the slab on Saturday. They picked up on an error they performed while laying out the steel and won't be able to correct it in time for a 6am pour.
The pour has been pushed back to Monday morning at 6am...we'll keep you posted.
Work on site has resumed! On Thursday a site visit was conducted to assess the progress on the corrections to the steel for the upper floor slab. Preparations for pouring concrete were not complete, but we were pleased to see that a large amount of the prior issues had been addressed. The excessive steel in the beams had been removed and the workers were busy re-installing the grid for the slab at the proper dimensions and overlapping. See photo:
In the photo above, the south balcony is on the right. Today the crew is installing the rebar for the balconies and preparing for a complete pour starting tomorrow (4/14) at 6am! It is essential that the upper floor slab is poured all in one day so the contractor has stockpiled spare parts for the mixer, and they have more than enough cement on site in safe keeping. Note the two locks on the door:
While we were on site there was a delivery of aggregate and everyone was very motivated to work hard for a successful pour on Saturday. Our outreach manager, Gerald Jeanty, was on site this morning to monitor the progress. He verified that they completed the rebar grid for the slab. This afternoon the contractor called confirming that they would be ready to pour tomorrow and we will check again at the end of today. Hopefully, at the end of the day tomorrow this will be a freshly poured concrete slab:
A meeting between the Contractor and AfH took place on Monday evening to discuss how to resolve the $30k plus money gap. This gap is actually what's been holding the Toilet Bldg construction from starting...see previous Updates to help explain.
After several mtgs and number crunching sessions, we were only able to reduce the cost of the Toilet Bldg version 2 by $10k ($14k with soft costs.) This lead to the a slightly smaller version 3.0 which was presented to and discussed with the contractor.
They felt very optimistic about the cost of this version being closer to what we were looking for, but would need more detailed drawings to verify. AfH is currently working on the revised BOQ and structural details.
The contractor estimates construction of this building to be about 2 months with ideal conditions like security and using their own skilled workers.
...more info to follow shortly.
A lot has happened since our site visit Monday (...including losing the first draft of this update.)
On Tuesday morning, while digesting our findings of the steel inspection, we received a phone call report of a group of "bandits" returning on-site to deliver a 2pm deadline message to collect their money to pay for the release of their "boss" from jail. The School Director tried to have a sit down with them to understand what they were talking about.
The meeting ended abruptly with the "bandits" stating they've been back to the site several times and when they return later, they will open fire on whoever's there...everyone immediately left the site, including the School Director, HCS visitors, construction workers, and Gerald Jeanty (AfH's Outreach Construction Supervisor.) It's a good thing students have been off on Easter Break this week.
On Wednesday evening, the School Director, JB (the Contractor) and AfH were finally able to sit and brainstorm how to move forward and whether to negotiate with them or not.
A few issues were discussed:
1. If we abandon the project in place now because of these threats, then these "bandits" will feel like they fully have control of construction and the School. For many reasons this will affect the School in a negative way, especially in the long run.
2. If we continue with the construction and ignore these threats, then everyone's life would be in danger.
3. Time is of the essence, but there are a few rebar steel work corrections that need to be performed before the upper floor slab can be poured. Currently the plywood formwork being held up with temporary posts, that the contractor is renting, are disappearing little by little every night. The rebar sitting in the formwork are beginning to rust with the nightly rain.
4. Do we negotiate with them? Typically we do not negotiate with terrorists.
5. If we get law enforcement to post up at the school entrance and patrol the area, would that help? Census was no, in Cite Soleil the Police do not have as much power as the bandits there do. Most of these bandits are escaped prisoners and the Police presence may antagonize them to take it out on the community...this has happened before.
6. If we figure a way to get the slab poured and gradually remove the formwork in 7, 14 & 28-day increments while the concrete cures and put the project on hold for a month or so, this may provoke the community to push for the project to resume. Especially by the local guys from the community that are actually working on the construction and were being paid for their work. The fact that no money will be circulating could force them to actually ban together to stand up against the bandits? Maybe???
SMH!!!
Meeting Minutes to follow shortly.
Today we visited the site for steel inspections and to meet with Haiti Child Sponsorship (HCS) representatives. The site was full of energy due to the visitors from HCS working with the children to make kites. It was great to see the activity both in the classrooms and on the job site!
This morning the contractor warned that the steel for the upper floor slab and beams was not fully ready for inspection. However, the site visit was conducted in order to avoid last minute delays immediately before scheduled pouring. Several workers were tying rebar in the ringbeam, and installing spacers on the rebar for the slab:
We discovered the inclusion of unnecessary rebar in the beams. This is why we wanted to do a pre-inspection visit, to address any such problems that would cause delays if discovered right before a pour. This issue was discussed with the contractor and they agreed to remove all of the excessive rebar. An example:
In the following photo, note proper overlapping of the slab rebar crossing above the beam:
Despite a few aforementioned issues to address, progress is being made towards a large one-day pour of the upper floor slab. The wooden forms are nearly complete with a variety of bracing by using steel ties, wooden kickers and steel supporting columns.
View of the balcony and upper floor landing:
Underneath the intersection of 300mm and 500mm beams in classroom 1:
Last Thursday the contractor was able to continue work on site and the tensions have since deescalated. The upcoming upper floor pour must be completed in one day so last weekend security measures were discussed to preempt any potential disruptions. The discussions revealed that all parties are intent on maintaining momentum and there was talk of hosting a community outreach event prior to the large pour. We are reassured by the progress in both security and construction.
Panoramic view from Southern corner of the site:
For the past few weeks, progress onsite has been continuous and pretty steady on the Classroom Building. The contractor has built up the Ground Floor block walls and poured the columns. Last week they were setting the formwork and steel for the ringbeam and Upper Floor slab.
There were a few discussions on forming the balcony for the Classroom Building. How to continue the balcony beams' rebar through the columns, reducing its spacing in-between to get through. Also how to maintain the 300x300mm size beam cantilevering at the balcony but 300x150mm around the stair landing.
The contractor submitted substitutions for the windows and doors which AfH is considering, but are further investigating if they meet the original intent and how they will be installed.
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The Toilet Building negotiations continue. After several meetings, AfH is still in the process of adjusting/shrinking down the building to get enough of a credit to cover the costs associated with the pile of change orders. These change orders mainly dealt with the perimeter wall and water issues on-site.
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Construction on-site was consistantly moving forward until this past weekend. The contractor reported that last week, on both Friday and Saturday six armed guys came on-site and demanded money otherwise they would shut the site down. According to the contractor, they were part of the same group that was causing trouble on-site a few weeks ago. The Foreman on-site was able to talk them down. Monday this week, they came back and threatened everyone trying to work, so since then, work on-site has stopped.
After several phone conversations, no solution was resolved. The possiblity of reaching out to community leaders in Cite Soleil to help keep the peace was brought up again. The Contractor, School Director (along with his appointed neighboorhood/site security) and AfH are trying to schedule a meeting ASAP to decide how to proceed.
Originally we were planning to go on-site this week to inspect the steel in the formwork before they poured the concrete for the ringbeam and slab of the Upper Floor of the Classroom Building. Instead, its been raining every night (as we enter the rainy season) the formwork is holding the rebar steel cages in water...not so much of problem now, but if this continues to drag on, it could be.
FIELD REPORT #5
PROJECT: Bon Berger Pele
PROJECT NUMBER: 7636
DATE: 02-28-2012
WEATHER: Sunny 30C
________________________________________________________________________
WORK IN PROGRESS:
- Formwork for ground floor columns being constructed
_______________________________________________________________________
PRESENT AT SITE:
- Anne Hake (AFH)
- Burtland Granvil (AFH)
- Gerald Jeanty (AFH)
- Joseph Antonio (JB Immobilier)
- Foreman + workers (JB Immobilier)
___________________________________________________________________
MATERIAL ON SITE:
- mixer, compactor, vibrator
- gravel, sand, river rock fill
- timber for column formwork
- 2-cell cement blocks
_______________________________________
OBSERVATIONS:
- On 2-24-12 AH sent an email to JB saying that AFH would like to put a concrete sill on all windows, but needs JB’s specs for windows substitutions before more details can be given. The sills were all cast on the ground floor by the time of the site visit today. AFH had not given instructions for this. The concrete is dry and easily broken.
- The formwork for all of the columns except five was built up to the 12 courses of block. BG had previously asked that one side of each formwork be left open in order for the steel inspection today. In the columns that were not closed, the horizontal steel bars were not hooked into the stirrups. BG asked the foreman to open one side of a closed column. The steel was similar to the open columns and not hooked around the stirrups. BG gave instructions for all column formwork to be open and corrected. GJ will take a photo of each for approval by AFH before JB can begin pouring.
_________________________________
INFORMATION OR ACTION REQUIRED:
- AFH to verify that balcony beams are 300x150, not 300x300. There is a discrepancy in the drawings between the plan and section.
- AFH to verify the size of steel in the ringbeam. The drawings show 12mm and the BOQ calls for 9mm.
- AFH will give further instruction about what is to be done about the concrete sills.
- Discussion will continue about the laying of ½” rebar in slab, and how to minimize wastage.
____________________________________
REPORT BY: Anne Hake
FIELD REPORT #4
PROJECT: Bon Berger Pele
PROJECT NUMBER: 7636
DATE: 02-22-2012
WEATHER: Sunny 30C
________________________________________________________________________
WORK IN PROGRESS:
- Blocks being laid in Classroom Bldg ground floor.
_______________________________________________________________________
PRESENT AT SITE:
- Anne Hake (AFH)
- Gerald Jeanty (AFH)
- Foreman + workers (JB Immobilier)
___________________________________________________________________
MATERIAL ON SITE:
- 2-cell cement blocks
- mixer, compactor, vibrator
- gravel/ sand fill
- #3 rebar, 9 meter length
_______________________________________
OBSERVATIONS:
- The center column is now standing again, holes were drilled and the steel epoxied into the slab.
- The block work for the first floor of the Classroom Bldg is almost complete, except for the interior wall. One course of blocks remains to be finished along the south wall. 12 courses complete and 6 courses underneath window openings for the rest of the building.
- The mortar still looks dry and clumpy. The joint sizes are still not consistent.
- There are still small, broken blocks being used in the center and edges of the walls to account for varied block sizes. The joints sizes and small blocks in the shear wall along the North wall are particularly noticeable.
_________________________________
INFORMATION OR ACTION REQUIRED:
- AFH to verify depth of rubble fill under Classroom staircase
- AFH to verify if there should be a 100mm reinforced concrete window sill/beam, as the drawings do not indicate.
- AFH to discuss the quality of the North shear wall and if it is acceptable.
____________________________________
REPORT BY: Anne Hake
FIELD REPORT #3
PROJECT: Bon Berger Pele
PROJECT NUMBER: 7636
DATE: 02-017-2012
WEATHER: Sunny 31C
________________________________________________________________________
WORK IN PROGRESS:
- Blocks being laid in Classroom Bldg
- Concrete being mixed and poured for Classroom Stair foundations.
_______________________________________________________________________
PRESENT AT SITE:
- Burtland Granvil (AFH)
- Anne Hake (AFH)
- Eric Cesal (AFH
- Gerald Jeanty (AFH)
- Joseph Antonio (JB Immobilier)
- Foreman + 20 workers (JB Immobilier)
- Alan Lowry
- James Monday
___________________________________________________________________
MATERIAL ON SITE:
- 2-cell cement blocks
- mixer, vibrator
- gravel/ sand fill
- #3 rebar, 9 meter length
_______________________________________
OBSERVATIONS:
- The consistency of mortar was not acceptable. It was clumpy and there were visible large pebbles in it.
- The workers were cutting pieces off of blocks to accommodate vertical rebar in the center of walls. AFH instructed JB to redo courses with cut blocks in the center and in the future to begin laying the blocks from the center out to the ends.
- The rebar for the center column was cut above slab as instructed. Work to drill new holes has not started yet.
____________________________________
REPORT BY: Anne Hake
FIELD REPORT #2
PROJECT: Bon Berger Pele
PROJECT NUMBER: 7636
DATE: 02-016-2012?
WEATHER: Sunny 31C
________________________________________________________________________
WORK IN PROGRESS:
- No work being done on Classroom Bldg during site visit.
- 2 courses of block have been laid in Classroom Bldg.
_______________________________________________________________________
PRESENT AT SITE:
- Burtland Granvil (AFH)
- Anne Hake (AFH)
- Gerald Jeanty (AFH)
- Joseph Antonio (JB Immobilier)
- Foreman + 10 workers (JB Immobilier)
___________________________________________________________________
MATERIAL ON SITE:
- 2-cell cement blocks
- mixer
- truck with sand/gravel fill
- #3 rebar, 9 meter length
_______________________________________
OBSERVATIONS:
- Yesterday Jeanty had the workers take down 2 courses of block along the SE wall because the workers were not laying the blocks correctly. We heard from Jeanty that some of those workers were fired yesterday. Last night 41 bars of #3 rebar were stolen from the site. It is unclear if the 2 incidents are related. There was no work done today.
- There were some problems with blocks and joint placement today. The size of the end blocks at door openings and columns were not acceptable; some were broken and too small. The size of the mortar joints was not consistent and too large in places.
- Some of the blocks did not have the holes punched through before they were laid. The mortar in block holes was inconsistent and clumpy.
- The block color was varied. BG tested 2 blocks by dropping them off the side of the classroom slab. They were not damaged.
- The center column is not aligned and the rebar was bent straight in order to align.
- One of the 2 horizontal rebar pieces at corner columns does not hook behind the column, but it tied in front of it.
_________________________________
INFORMATION OR ACTION REQUIRED:
- AFH gave instruction on-site to take down 2 courses of block wall along NW side of building and redo.
- AFH gave instruction on-site how to hook the end of horizontal rebar around bars in corner columns. Every other course should have the rebar cut and bent around vertical rebar in column.
- AFH gave instruction by email to JB to cut the vertical bars above the slab at the misaligned column, drill new holes into slab aligned with other 2 columns, and epoxy and insert vertical rods into new holes for columns.
____________________________________
REPORT BY: Anne Hake
FIELD REPORT #1
PROJECT: Bon Berger Pele
PROJECT NUMBER: 7636
DATE: 02-09-2012
WEATHER: Sunny 30C
________________________________________________________________________
WORK IN PROGRESS:
- Steel column and stirrups being formed. No work being done on Classroom Bldg during site visit.
_______________________________________________________________________
PRESENT AT SITE:
- Anne Hake (AFH)
- Gerald Jeanty (AFH)
- Foremen, workers (JB Immobilier)
___________________________________________________________________
MATERIAL ON SITE:
- 2-cell cement blocks
- #3, #5, & #6 rebar (9 meter segments)
- cement mixer, vibrator
- gravel, sand
_______________________________________
OBSERVATIONS:
- Classroom floor slab was poured last weekend.
- Area in front of classroom bldg is beginning to be cleared for pouring of staircase footing.
- Concrete cap on perimeter wall has been poured and is curing.
- Vertical steel in place for block wall. Column steelwork is not complete yet.
- Column formwork should be ready to begin by tomorrow.
_________________________________
INFORMATION OR ACTION REQUIRED:
- AFH to provide dimensions of windows/doors
____________________________________
REPORT BY: Anne Hake
February 3, 2012 Site Visit
We had a tentative mtg scheduuled with the contractor for this past Monday, January 30th to discuss further action if their last attempt didn't work to keep the peace and accelerate their work pace. We did not need to have the meeting since things have been and look to be working well.
At today's site visit we noticed a lot of progress with the foundation and base for the floor slab. The tarp was in place and rebar for slab and grade beam was almost done.
The perimeter wall is almost complete with the exception of the top in the corner and the west end near the reservoir.
View of column in S. corner of building:
We stressed the importance of rebar spacing in the grade beam. At certain places the spacing was very uneven with the rebar off-center. We reminded that a 3mm clearance between rebar and formwork is required.
Pano view from East corner:
January 25, 2012- Site Visit
View of the site looking towards the North wall and Classroom Building:
Foundation for the Classroom Building was complete. A fill of rubble/sand was being added.
Jeanty said that the foundation for the porch and staircase of the Classroom Building would start the next day.
Workers were busy completing the North corner of the perimeter wall. This should be complete by tomorrow.
Looking back towards the classroom from the back wall. They should start the formwork for the grade beam after the fill is added.
Due to a couple issues and threatening comments/gestures on-site towards the Contractor's field reps, there was a mtg called at the AfH Office...notes of that mtg to follow shortly.
Two weeks ago when they stopped pouring the footings due to shortage of material like gravel, and other site issues, they finally started back up.
But first they cleared most of the existing unusable rubble from the site. This made it easier to maneuver around the site.
After some cleanup and prep, they continued pouring from where they left off.
This is a view from the Northmost corner of the site looking at the newer concrete being pour, notice it shining in center.
Pouring center aisle of footing.
According to Gerald Jeanty (AfH On-site Rep), the Contractor finished pouring the rest of the footings this past weekend.
Wide view of construction site from entrance facing South.
It just looks like piles of rubble, rocks and blocks and not much work going on.
But notice in the far background, the perimeter wall looks complete.
It's actually about 90% complete at this point.
And as we enter the construction site further,
we get a view of the future Classroom Building in its place. The Building and its footing will be on the left and the stairs directly in front.
As we move closer, we notice the rebar for the footings in place surrounded by formwork on both sides and the beton cyclopean underneath. They have some adjusting to do before pouring the footings but they were doing a good job so far for the most part.
This is a view of the footing's rebar cage from the opposite side as the pictures above...from the North corner against the freshly built perimeter wall.
A WIDE panoramic view of the site facing West. (This picture looks alittle distorted, the left and right perimeter walls shown are actually 90 degrees/perpedicular to each other.)
The contractor started pouring the footings towards the end of this week, but stopped after pouring 10% because they ran out of regular sized aggregate for the concrete mix. SMH, we have spoken repeatedly about not beginning a major item, like to pouring footings or a slab, without having enough materials to finish the whole task one time.
They said they had a truck load set for delivery on Thursday but it was stuck in traffic...two days later the delivery was finally made, but no work happened today since it arrived to late for the workers to continue today. (Port-au-Prince has some traffic.)
A couple updates ago, we mentioned having a meeting on-site about safety and security following a few incidents of neighborhood disturbance. Things seemed to work fine for a while until this past week when a few more neighborhood guys came on-site trying to cause trouble. Again this time, no one was hurt. The School Director assured me this morning that the neighborhood workers on-site handled it on their own and things should be peaceful again on site.
Over this past holiday season, work pretty much continued on-site...with only a few hiccups.
Finally the formwork for the last bit of the perimeter wall footing was put up and footing poured.
One of the construction workers checking the size of the large aggregate for the lean mix concrete "beton cyclopean". There were a few discrepancies with the drawings, the contractor's understanding of and direction given for the size range for this aggregate. The intent was to use larger aggregate and less cement in the mix as a better base for the building's footings to sit on...instead of the existing clay/garbage makeup there. Also this larger aggregate was suppose to fit into their mixer.
But since the mini-boulders delivered on-site were much bigger than needed,
the workers took turns breaking them down. The aggregate was still to big to fit in the rubble crusher and their concrete mixer.
Groundwater made its typical appearance in the trenches. After pumping it out again, the beton cyclopean was poured. It wasn't done exactly as intended, instead it was layered: cement mix, larger aggregate, cement mix, larger aggregate, etc...for 1 meter deep.
Then topped off with more cement mix.
Stockpile of the rebar stirrups for the footings.
After beton cyclopean bed cured for the footings to rest on, the continuous rebar was laid in place.
After the meeting about safety on-site, we walked around to check progress of the work.
This is a wide view of the site from the Classroom pit, notice majority of the perimeter wall built.
Wide view of site from Northeast corner. Again notice the perimeter wall at the right and left sides of the photo...its just missing the continuous concrete cap on top. The foundation for half of the West wall (center of photo) will be poured the sametime as the Classroom foundation.
View of the perimeter wall in construction from the Classroom pit. First the poured vertical footing at the bottom, two courses of 300mm block, then 200mm block above reinforced with both horizontal and vertical rebars...the wood is their temporary scaffolding.
This is a cut section of the earth on-site, notice the layer of rubble above, then garbage with brown and yellow clay mixes down throughout.
Yesterday morning ten of us gathered in an empty classroom at Pele to discuss the safety of the project and its workers on-site: (4) members of JB Immobilier et Construction, (3) members of AfH, (2) members of the neighborhood and the School Director.
The two neighborhood guys are former students of Pele whose role now is to find people from the neighborhood that can work on the construction site and help keep the peace. For the most part this was working, but there were two or three incidents recently that threatened this, leading to several work stoppages...hence the meeting.
Both sides were given time to state their piece, explain what happened and give ideas of how to prevent this in the future.
We left the meeting reminding everyone about the bigger picture and what we are all trying to do here...to build back better for Haiti's future.
...and THEN everyone was reminded of the schedule.
On Saturday, we went to viist the site to check on the progress. There has been talk of issues with a few guys in the neighborhood starting trouble and wanting to work also, but everything seemed fine when we where there.
There were alot of workers (with boots & hard hats) all over the site.
They are almost done with the construction of the East side perimeter wall...about two more courses to go before the continuous cap on top.
Pouring the last bit of foundation for the West side perimeter wall, before the remaining 16 meters of the Classroom building. Notice the water in the background sitting in the trench...that portion will be poured the sametime as the building's foundation.
Neighborhood student looking at the foundation for the perimeter wall being constructed.
The Contractor (JB Immobilier et Construction) and the School Director plan to meet this week to discuss how to ensure safety on-site for the workers. An AfH rep may attend this meeting as well.
It's exciting to see all this work going on...
Wide view of the built neighbor's wall and progress on the perimeter wall being built, looking East.
Grout/Mortar mix being applied to the first course of block for the perimeter wall. This photo was taken before we spoke to them about not applying so much at once. Instead to butter the edges first and after three courses to fill the block's cells "coulis".
Discussing how the walls are being built...focusing on joint spacing, rebar placement and their overlap.
Building the perimeter wall better.
More water to be pumped out from the trenches before pouring the Classroom Building foundation.
Wide view of the construction site looking South.
Work has continued on-site pouring the perimeter wall's footing. They should be complete by this weekend. The contractor also started building the neighbor's wall so they don't continue to use the School's perimeter wall to support their roof...pictures will be posted shortly.
View of the footing for the neighbor's wall being poured and vibrated, between their existing columns & walls.
Next week they plan to lay the block for the perimeter wall and continue trenching for the classroom building.
I'm going to apologize now since these pictures were taken from a camera-phone and aren't of the best quality...but you have to see these.
Concrete rebar supports, used to hold the rebar in place during the pour. These help establish the proper concrete coverage over the bars.
Measuring the depth of the trench and water within before pouring the footing.
Pouring and vibrating the concrete, look at the trench getting filled up.
Yes they were vibrating the concrete during the pour. This helps ensure the mix gets everywhere around the rebars preventing "honeycombing" or void spaces in the concrete when it cures. (We just had to remind them not to vibrate it to much, otherwise all the aggregate maake shake to the bottom...Pierre Ulrick, our site guy was all over it.)
Check out the water being displaced in the trench by the concrete pour then pumped out at the other end. "...it worked for the Romans."
Rebar inspection before pouring concrete for the perimeter wall's footing.
Contractors installing rebar cages in trench.
Verifying placement and concrete coverage. Notice the inch or so of water at the bottom of the trench.
Final adjusting before the pour. The footing to be 40cm wide by 1m deep.
Mixing the concrete.
The mix came out alittle to wet, the next batch will be made with a little less water and mixed with this batch. They look to pour 9 meters before sundown.
On-site Monday, more material was delivered and it looked like work was really underway.
Water was pumped out of the classroom "swimming pool".
Concrete bags & rebar on-site. The rebar comes in 9 meter lengths.
Rebar cages for perimeter wall footings stored in a safe place on-site.
Preping to work with concrete mixer.
On Saturday we popped on-site to check out how the rubble crushing was going and progress on perimeter wall.
About 36 cubic meters were crushed on-site, but the contractor estimates needing about 450 cubic meters of fill for the classroom building alone.
On-site there was also a pile of crushed stone aggregate to be used in the concrete mix.
The orange construction fence installed last week at the site perimeter was replaced with a more sturdy and restricting fence.
Truck delivering sand on-site.
Besides the rubble crushers being delivered and assembled on-site, there was no other work going on.
The ground was previously dugout for the foundation of the classroom building.
...but now its just filled with sitting water.
Trench dugout from perimeter wall foundation.
Foundation dugout for classroom foundation.
Temporary fencing at perimeter.
November 4, 2011: Rubble crusher delivered and assembled on-site with Contractor.
Rubble crusher being assembled on-site.
Assembled, but too heavy to lift upright???
No one there believed it would be able to crush a rock, so we tried
...minus the proper construction protective wear.
Rubble and rocks to be crushed on-site.
September 21, 2011: Day 3 of Build Change training with construction workers on-site.
Gathered around for training.
Cutting the ridge of the truss.
Practice rebar cages for columns.
The cutting and forming a wood truss.
ARCHITECT’S FIELD REPORT
[based on AIA Document G711 – 1972]
____________________________________________________________________
PROJECT: Ecole le Bon Berger,Pele
PROJECT NUMBER:
FIELD REPORT NUMBER: [9]
DATE: Sept 5-8, 2011
PRESENT: ____________________________________________________________________
WEATHER: [Sunny]
EST % COMPLETION: [0%]
SCHEDULE [+/- days]: ()
________________________________________________________________________
WORK IN PROGRESS:
- Demolition of the perimeter wall
- Demolition of the toilets
- Cut of the Perimeter wall
_______________________________________________________________________
PRESENT AT SITE:
- 1 forman
- 2 masons ;
- 10 day workers.
___________________________________________________________________
DELIVERIES TO SITE:
- 7 shovels; 10 hard hats; 1 igloo; 4 picks; 6 gloves; 1 roll of line; 6 glasses; 10 bokits
_______________________________________
OBSERVATIONS:
- water emerge while digging the trench of the foundation wall at a depth of 30 cm from the natural soil
_______________________________________
ITEMS TO VERIFY:
______________________________________
INFORMATION OR ACTION REQUIRED:
_______________________________________
ATTACHEMENTS:
REPORT BY: Pierre Ulrick/
After months of halt to the construction site which never got to officially start, due to the rubble from demolition of the previous classrooms block, officially started monday sept 5th.
The Firm JB Immobilier, who won the bid in may 2011 and signed a contract in july 11th 2011, was very pleased to finally start construction which they are moving at a very fast paste on the demolition and rebuilding the perimeter wall.
Chedrick the client is also very excited to finally see it all coming down to reality,like a parent awaiting a baby to be born.
On tuesday september 6th Architecture for Humanity design fellow Jean Rene Lafontant met with Chedrick Caneus to discuss about Civic arts sculptures and the potential of art workshop to be conducted with the students by local Haitian artist.
they also discussed the layout and the location of the basketball court to be donated by Nike. Both Jean Rene and Chedrick were pleased of the outcome of that meeting.
Those present:
Jean Lucho (GiveLove)
Pierre Maxime (GiveLove)
Chedrick Caneus (Director, Pele school)
Wilkese Dorcinvil (Director, Home of Knowledge)
Stacey McMahan (Architecture for Humanity)
We visited 2 sites. The intention of the visit was to explain the function and operations of the composting latrine system as setup through GiveLove.
HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS
5 gallon buckets are placed beneath a seat box to catch deposits. Users must add a handful of dry organic matter as cover after each use. The buckets are emptied into a compost bin behind the building in the service area, there are 4 bins. The composting process is called thermophilic which because both urine and faeces are used, a higher heat process occurs during composting to kill pathogens and break down materials. The system does not require water or electricity, and when properly managed does not smell. The more bio-diversity in the compost including faeces, urine, toilet paper and additional cover material(different dry organic materials include sawdust, cane bagasse, vetiver bagasse, kitchen scraps, shredded leaves, pine needles etc.) the better the fertilizer. A full compost cycle is 1 to 2 years, compost can be used on crops and fruit trees.
MAINTENANCE
For a 5 gallon bucket system, GiveLove recommends 2 people be hired. One fulltime maintenance person (usually female) to keep the stalls and surfaces clean, refill bagasse containers and toilet paper, etc. This person should be onsite during operating hours.
Another person (usually male) to empty the buckets and maintain the compost piles, bagasse storage as well as gardens/planters.
COMPOST AND BAGASSE SCHEDULE
GiveLove will work with Pele and the AfH team to develop a maintenance schedule for the compost bins as well as the dry organic material (DOM) supply. Sources of DOM need to be found nearby if possible. Possible materials include:
AGED COMPOST USE
Jean Lucho explains the human waste composting cycle at Sopudep facility (3 toilets and urinal) - 500 students
Compost bins at Sopudep School
Amurt camp and school (8 toilets and urinal) - 1,000 students
Checking out the bucket system
Handwash station
GiveLove review by:
Jean Lucho
Alisa Keesey
Pierre Maxime
1. UDDT SYSTEM
The UDDT system is only beneficial for specific circumstances and in this case we feel that it is not necessary. We understand that you may have chosen the UDDT system to decrease the high moisture levels present in the compost piles but even with that significant reduction the system you are proposing will still have very high moisture levels. Another consequence of installing this system is that there will be a decrease in the microorganisms present, which means that the reaction will be less effective and the decomposition will take more time. In order for a composting system to work effectively (with minimal moisture and maximum decomposition) it will need to have good airflow from all sides and be exposed to the sun, this means that there can be no roof or overhead cover and no metals or ceramics used in the construction of the composting container. Weather is another concern for us ****
2. Ventillation
The ventilation present in the current design poses very serious health hazards for those working in the space down below. The level of ammonia will be extremely high and then gases that will be produced are extremely toxic so much so that it could quickly deteriorate into conditions that make it unusable. As for the toilet space ventilation this can be done using ****
3. Replacing Bagas Walls
****
4. Flipping Mechanism
Because we have no prior experience working with a design like this it is difficult for us to advise on how well this would work. We feel that there is a great risk of damage to the mechanics of this system and the placement will make it difficult to maintain. The problems you mentioned are also concerning to us.
5. Lechate
The spout system proposed requires a lot of careful maintenance and poses from serious health risks such as spillages & increased gases. If for whatever reason maintenance of this system is not done well it will put the community and workers at a huge risk of contamination-which is a huge responsibility for the compost manager to bear.
We understand that your design aims to avoid the need for the compost manager & staff to manually take the raw compost to a compost pile but the it is likely that the labor that will be required to maintain the system you are proposing and the potential health concerns associated with it pose far bigger problems and will incur greater costs too.
6. Size & Cost
the cost of the system you are presenting would be as follows
the cost of our amended system using the outdoor compost pile and individual buckets
the size of your system
come pared to the size of our amended system
7. Community Involvement, Marketing & Social/ educational aspects
Our training program offers stakeholders the chance to realize the benefits of the system on their own by empowering them to question the systems they are currently using with respect to health, maintenance, environment and costs. The prospect of free compost and nearly free sanitation system often sells itself. We also perform routine follow-ups with the managers and are on call at all times to address any issues that might arise.
As for the potential benefits to those using a compost toilet system in urban areas we suggest that communities could consider starting a program for cost recovery by selling their quality nutrient rich compost? If it is a densely populated area in an urban setting pickups might be necessary.
8 Maintenance & ecosan minimum standards
In order for this project to pass the dinepa standards we advise that the design be changed to be an outdoor compost pile with no urine diverter thus minimizing contamination and labour incurred for manager.
The system you saw of ours at the school of 500 kids – leaching problem? We like to keep things simple
Child usge uddt
Location expectations
Dear Asia, Raoul, and Kelly:
I am the Program Director for GiveLove Haiti's Humanure Compost & EcoSan Training Program.
I have been in Haiti for the past week working with Lucho on some Green School EcoSan design projects with Architecture for Humanity. Attached is the design plan that we are working on. We feel that the proposed plan for 16 toilets is more than enough compost toilets for this very small school site in Cite Soleil. There will be 500 children using the school per day -- in two sessions.
The design team at ARH is concerned that they are not meeting DINEPA minimum guidelines for new construction of school toilet blocks. This design has two blocks of 8 toilets and includes male urinals and hand washing stations. Two stalls are designated for teachers and staff. The team would feel a lot better about moving forward with their construction plans with your approval, or at least a review of the design plans and a discussion about future EcoSan toilet design. They are designing three more Green Schools, one for John Engle from Haiti Partners. Mr. Engle is already familiar with our system at his Henri Christophe school in Leogane which we built in March this year -- and they are happy with the management and design.
I am leaving for the US tomorrow to finish a proposal. I will be back in Haiti in about three weeks with Joe Jenkins, our senior technical advisor, to do additional work with AFH, Habitat for Humanity and other interested partners.
Our team at GiveLove respectfully requests that you help begin a dialogue to review these plans, and if possible, please make an effort to meet with Lucho and the Architecture for Humanity team. They would like to set something up this week, or as soon as possible.
This week we met with members of President Martelly's family and they are very interested in building compost toilets for their school project in Croix-des-Bouquets. We also met with a large team from Partners in Health this week, and they visited our sites -- an assessment team of water engineers will come again in the near future for further review. People are quite interested in our sanitation systems and training programs, and many partners would like to start scaling up.
At this point, I would like to have have more direct dialogue with your team about the kind of projects we are collaborating on in Haiti, and to have our design plans reviewed by DINEPA for comment.
Thank you very much for your time. I look forward to meeting you in person on my next visit to discuss our work in Haiti.
Sincerely,
Alisa Puga Keesey
Program Director, GiveLove
Humanure Compost & EcoSan Training Program
Mobile: 1-831-325-3187
alisa@givelove.org
ARCHITECTURE FOR HUMANITY/ GIVELOVE LATRINE REVIEW JULY 18 – 23, 2011
Stacey contacted Jean Lucho of GiveLove in June to review both Haiti Partner’s Children’s Academy and to take a preliminary look at Pele. During the review he expressed frustration at some of the difficulties they were having with their building design and that they could use architectural advise for their building and site adapts from time to time. Stacey suggested GL and AfH trade review of Pele latrine design for architectural help. Jean contacted his Program Director, Alisa Keesey in Santa Barbara to help with the review. She arranged a one week participatory review. Agenda and meetings were set up by Stacey at the Rebuilding Center per the following (notes from the meetings are also included):
Monday 2:30 – 4:30 Introductions and projects background/initial reviews
Review Pele (notes are posted separately)
Review Santo RFP
Review Children’s Academy
Tuesday 1:30 – 5:00 Pele/finalize week schedule
1-1:30 Review schedule for week
1:30-3:30 Pele latrine going forward/redesign/maintenance schedule/bagas schedule
• Thermophilic design in Haiti
o Ventilation, operation, maintenance, collection containers
o $5/student per year (500 students) to maintain and manage the facility – salary for 1, bagas transport, and cleaning material
o 5 gal bucket preferred (36 cm height needed) – readily available, 2 staff req instead of 3, more easily handlable
• Number of seats (review GOH and DINEPA standards, GiveLove #s/lessons learned)
o Sopudep /400 kids – 3 toilets
o Pele/1,000 kids – 2 staff, 6 boys, 10 girls – will review with DINEPA (Alisa to arrange)
• Building form/what are other examples?
o Imeh/Matt Gun
o Henri Cristoph (HP School)
o Joe Jenkins Humanure Book
o Cambodian designs (Alisa)
• Site plan
o Urinal should be outside and screened but open to the rain, 2 meters long, drain to composting bin or bio-mat
o 4 compost bins (1.5mx2m), dry organic material storage (3mx4m), tool storage (1x1m) – within 5mx8m compost center (consider tools storage as part of the building)
• Compost bin material and arrangement
o Pallets are generally used and changed out on a yearly basis
o Discussion on alternative materials such as breeze block
? Jean felt the block being exposed to moisture would become crumbly after a short amount of time
? Used motor oil is traditionally used to waterproof wood. While it can be used on the bins, it is not an ideal or environmentally appropriate material. Alternatives should be explored.
o Bins should be lined with chainlink mesh
• Bagas storage
o Pallets will be used here as well
o Create 2 bins, one for sawdust and one for bagas (dry organic matter)
o Also consider delivery
• Outside-the-box improvements
o Create service opening to the rear of each stall for removal of bucket to composting bin for separation of user and maintenance zones
o Line perimeter with planters for growing vegetables and creating a buffer between the latrine building and adjacent buildings
o Centralize handwashing station so as to be a prominent feature, capture rainwater in cisterns
o Create grey water flush for urinal
• Call in other collaborators?
• Proposal, training, monitoring, DINEPA training
3:30 Coke break
3:45-5:00 Sketch building redesign – plans, sections (Stacey/Lisa) with input from GiveLove as needed
3:45-5:00 GiveLove review/discuss HPCA or Santo work
5:00-5:45 Review Pele sketches/discuss
Wednesday 8-12 Santo
1:30 Airport
2-4 Pele and We Advance – back by 5:00
Full day (AfH) Draft design – work by Josh Canez
Thursday GiveLove work on Santo proposal
1:30 Review Pele/HPCA latrine drawings
• The composters maintain the site ½ day once per week
• Wood box seats in the stalls are preferred or block wall with wood top, access should be made for smaller kids
• The urinal should be exterior and open to the elements if possible (no roof)
• Access doors for bucket maintenance are to the back of the building to separate service from use
• Compost bins should have a 1m walkway either end
• Increase bagas area and add a divider to accommodate 2 kinds of cover
• Add handwashing at the urinal to have direct greywater constantly flushing onto the urinal surface
• Questions for consultants
o Is there a proven shape for a trough urinal? What material (locally available) is the best to use? We are considering polished concrete (enduisage) which is a specialty craft in Haiti.
o Is there an appropriate longer lasting compost bin alternative to pallets?
2:30 Review HPCA latrine drawings
Plans will be updated and sent to GiveLove
• GiveLove will review plans with DINEPA, especially to approve the number of toilets which is approximately 20% of the number required by the Ministry
Friday GiveLove work on Santo
10:00 Review Pele if needed
• SD drawings plan, section and rendering were forwarded to GiveLove.
• Alisa forwarded SD design to DINEPA asking for review.
Richard Arcelin called to say his equipment was again operational and he could fulfill the contract. At this time Stephane had been negotiating with the demolition crew to also crush and seive the rubble.
He offered that an alternative was to pay back the $1,000 and that he would do so on August 15. He needed to wait for a check to clear.
Stacey explained the hardship the project had suffered from his lack of communication (4-6 week delay).
She also inquired about other services he offered in case he again didn't come through with the money. He replied that his business also includes transporting materials for projects.
Richard Arcelin 3604-8332
ARCHITECTURE FOR HUMANITY/ GIVELOVE LATRINE REVIEW JULY 18 – 23, 2011
July 18
Attending: Alisa Puga Keesey, GiveLove Santa Barbara
Jean Lucho, GiveLove Port-au-Prince
Pierre Maxima, GiveLove Port-au-Prince
Stacey McMahan, Architecture for Humanity
Lisa Smyth, Architecture for Humanity
ThomasCrowley, BAR Architects/Architecture for Humanity
Pele
Alisa and Jean reviewed the construction documents and model and provided a written report, some of the discussion items follow:
• The building is essentially a double vault system with 6 mos. Gather time and 6 mos. Composting time.
o The timing factor is appropriate for double vaulted systems and with a proper composting matrix the yield material can be safely handled/transported to windrows or fields.
• Urine diversion composting systems yield a weak compost matrix. Urine when included helps breakdown the organic cover and feces within a hotter reaction. Compost yield has a higher nutritional value as fertilizer.
• A covered system (compost on ground floor of building with toilets above) lacks exposure to the elements of occasional rain (needs to be covered for long rain events), sunshine and optimum ventilation.
• The weeps to collect juskaka as designed risks operator exposure to pathogens, and will attract flies/maggots.
• Ventilation areas are extremely undersized – the ground floor should have nearly 100% ventilation. The current design would need to be mechanically ventilated.
• Flaps are problematic and will catch feces in jointed areas where it will not be allowed to compost.
• Distance from origin to compost surface (poop drop) is too high and will create splattering conditions
• Urine diversion toilet seats tend to be higher maintenance, urine is often contaminated with feces
• After studying model and plans, GiveLove predicts problems to the extent that
o operator turn-over will be very high
o building will be a smell nuisance
o flies/maggots will be prevalent
o building may end up being abandoned
System recommendations:
• Reconsider including urine in compost matrix for a thermophilic system to achieve a hotter compost with better pathogen kill
• Increase ventilation to 100%
• Find an alternative to the bin switching doors – consider removing the flaps from the system
• Remove weeps at base
• Decrease ‘poop drop’ distance
• Could the lower level walls be removed to allow 100% ventilation – building on stilts?
o This would remove the shear walls which would need to be replaced by tension cables, but does not reduce the poop drop distance or allow exposure to sunlight
o If the composting floor is elevated to reduce distance, the ability to maintain the system becomes an issue
• Could the lower level be modified to a bucket system?
o This is a major change in the design intent of the building, the structure of the building becomes inefficient and overbuilt
• The overall conclusion from the GiveLove review is that the building as designed will not operate well as a composting facility. Minor changes to the design to facilitate a better composting system will not in their opinion be sufficient to create a successful facility.
Santo and HP Children’s Academy
Santo RFP and the Children’s Academy were reviewed and discussed briefly.
Schedule
Stacey is creating a more detailed schedule for the remainder of the week.
Monday – initial meeting
Tuesday – resume reviews at 1:30
Wednesday morning – Santo visit
Thursday morning – Tour GiveLove working facilities with Dorcinvil and Chedrick
Thursday afternoon – Pele and Home of Knowledge site visit
Friday morning – review Children’s Academy design and wrap up Pele review
Saturday?
End of DRAFT record.
Stacey McMahan
Haiti Design Fellow
Architecture for Humanity
Richard Arcelin was contracted to provide rubble crushing equipment on May 14. He delayed providing the equipment and finally after numerous calls about equipment delivery, he admitted the generator was not working.
An email was sent as a followup for retrieving the $1,000 deposit.
May 31 email
Richard,
I am sorry to hear your generator is having problems. You told us the crusher would be onsite and operational by
> Monday the 23rd, and when it wasn't on site I called and you said
> Monday the 30th. Now it is still not on site and you said
> Wednesday June 1.
Per my conversation with you on the phone earlier today, if the crusher is not on site Friday June 3 and operating, you will need to return the $1,000 deposit and we will find someone else to do it. We gave you the preference because you are a Haiti business man and part of our mission is to support local businesses.
If we end up finding someone else to do it, you will have 1 more week to return the $1,000 and if the deposit is not returned by that time, I will report the problem to Peace Dividend Trust as the recommendation to work with you came from them.
It is our desire to move forward with you and your equipment. I will check back in with you Friday this week.
Stacey McMahan
Haiti Design Fellow
Architecture for Humanity
Stacey inquired about the contract deposit of $1,000 and he said he had spent it, but would provide a check on June 8. Nothing materialized on the agreed date and now he has agreed to drop of a check for $1,000 to the RBC on Monday June 27.
Contract signing
On Thursday June 16 we were supposed to sign the contract for Pele with the contractor: J.B. IMMOBILIER ET CONSTRUCTION. Cheddrick the school owner, our community partner was invited to participate, so he can meet the contractor, go through the contract and have both of them sign it.
Present
Resume
The meeting started at 9:15am on Monday June 16th 2011. Cheddrick after going through the contract had one objection. He wanted a clause added to the contract putting the liability upon AFH not him, in the case if AFH would default on payment not to either the contractor or the schools fault. Therefore the contract was not sign and our legal team will work on putting a clause or similar language into the contract addressing that
Stacey met Chedrick onsite to discuss the Nike grant and to review program for the remainder of the site.
Currently Pele school accommodates Pre-K, K and grades 1-9. Chedrick wishes to add grades 10-13 which would provide a full-cycle campus.
The current student population is down after the earthquake, student numbers broke down as follows:
Other spaces needed on campus:
The Nike court is very desirable and could go either where the amphitheater is shown or near the entrance which will eventually be a much larger site area but is currently covered with tents and temporary classrooms. Chedrick said tents and miscellaneous construction could be moved to another location on the site to provide room for the court. Timing would work well for this during the summer to be ready for school in September. Location for a new gate would need to be studied to allow construction. The old gate location would be maintained until the church is moved. Chedrick felt making the entry portion of the site available after school hours would be very positive. He is open to allowing the court to be used, possibly a cyber cafe or community meeting space. In these situations it would be advantageous to close off the back part of the site.
The latrine was briefly discussed. Chedrick was concerned about the frequency of emptying the facility. Stacey will arrange a tour of the GiveLove facilities and a meeting with Jean Lucho. DINEPA training will be included either by Jean or another EcoSan trainer.
The Haiti Child Sponsorship crew is scheduled for June 20 - 28 and depending on activity onsite will participate in demolition or rubble clearing.
Stacey inquired about an activity on campus with children when school is not in session (ends this week) and Chedrick said there are always kids around.
The perimeter wall is currently providing the back wall for 2 houses. Chedrick has talked to them and explained the situation. They are willing to participate and will make arrangements during construction. Stacey reiterated that the families must be absent during construction for safety reasons. They need notice for scheduling.
Chedrick will go to SANCO and arrange for latrine desludging as well as for the temporary latrines.
Stacey received 2 more leads for rubble crushers from Peace Dividend Trust. So far 10+ leads have been investigated without success (not all from PDT).
The construction contract will be signed Thursday, Chedrick would like to review. He can bring a check for $28,000 to the contract signing. Stacey will followup with Stephane.
End of Notes
Bid Negotiation
Based on the analysis Carl and I made on the Bids that we've received for Pele, J.B.I.C submitted the most accurate material quantity estimate. Therefore we decided to enter the negotiation phase of the process with them.
Present
Resume
The meeting started at 4:00pm on Friday May 20th 2011. It was our first round of Bid negotiation with J.B. Immobilier et Construction. Their Bid initially came at 560k, but they also submitted a letter explaining some of their cost. A lot of it was due to a lack of precision on what the materials were. After the meeting we clarified a couple of items on our B.O.Q and were able to slash the prices by 80k, which brought us to a grand total of 470k
Bid opening
Tuesday May 10th 2011 we had the Bid opening ceremony at the Rebuilding Center.
Present
Resume
The ceremony started at 10:00am, 3 contractors were present as we opened all 7 bids that we received a day earlier. We noted all the technical requirements and the financial requirements. We then gave a sign copy of the document to all the contractors present that day.
Personnel:
Stacey McMahan - Architecture for Humanity
Carl Harrigan - Architecture for Humanity
Felix - JP/HRO Country Director
Jeff Dorsey - JP/HRO
Demolition is behind schedule mostly due to a schedule underestimation by engineering. Completion date is April 15 for the original contract. There is approximately 2 weeks remaining plus time added for crushing.
The crew has moved to the blue storage building and will have it down this week.
The latrines need to be cleaned out before being demolished. Felix will contact Oxfam to check into this. Stacey suggested Altidor could talk with the local work crew to see if any of them would want some extra work.
Early in the project, JP said they would offer the trees as a bonus to the laborers if they removed them.
A picture of the rubble crusher was reviewed. It will not have a conveyor belt which would be very useful, otherwise it may be difficult to remove the crushed rubble without stopping the machine intermittently. Jeff and Felix will check with HayTrac for a conveyor belt. A bobcat may need to be utilized to load the hopper.
The contract amount for demolition of $15,000 may be exceeded. Costs are being saved due to no rubble haul-off, but labor and equipment costs are increased. To this end, Stacey will negotiate with Richard Arcelin to negotiate the crusher for 2 weeks and pay the amount from the additional funds raised by the Haiti Child Sponsorship group.
Approximate volume of rubble is 1,200 cu m according to Jeff. The crusher is 500 cu m/day according to Richard.
Action items:
JP - check with Haytrac for conveyor belt
JP - find latrine cleaner
JP - give the workers go ahead to take down the trees
Stacey - negotiate crusher contract with Richard and have the crusher delivered this week.
Stacey/Carl - deliver check to Richard for crusher deposit.
Stacey -
Personnel:
Schendy Kernizan- Architecture for Humanity
Altidor - JPHRO
Personnel:
Schendy Kernizan-Architecture for Humanity
Altidor - JPHRO
Construction of the 1rst classsroom building at ecole baptiste bon berger is DONE and COMPLETE.
Final walkthrough was performed on october 22nd of last year. Some minor items were noted to be fixed up and final report was sent out to the contractor on novmeber 22nd of that same year.
Punchlist report can be read by clicking on the following link:
http://openarchitecturenetwork.org/sites/default/files/active/44/Pele%20...
To the bigger issue of the contractor, the toilet building, security and next steps, a meeting with school director, Chedrik was held end of last year and was set up to go through, discuss and countersign all paperwork related to the finished classroom building. There was alot of frustration on the part of Chedrick with how this project, and this contractor has been handled. There's been some serious communication breakdowns between all parties. The school lay blame squarely with the contractor and made repeated reference to an "inside job". Also addressed in that meeting was the need for Chedrick to fully regain control of the site. The general preference around the table was for the contractor to walk, press the pause button on the project, let the site settle down, then regroup and blitz the toilet building in 4-6 weeks with another contract.
The contractor couldnt agree more with the proposed plan as he had already taken the decision internally to cease his involment in the project. Subsequently, a few meetings were held to walk through the mutual agreement to suspend / terminate the contract. We very simply explained per the terms of the contract the need and opportunity that does exist to withold payments from him to cover inflated cost of someone else carrying out the job. He had asked, understandably, for a few days to review the wording of the amicable agreement which he did, sent back with minor additions and signed.
Presently we're on the hunt for potential contractors to erect the toilet building. Concurrently, reviews to the drawing set are being made and hopefully by the end of the month, construction will resume.