Construction Completed

November 7, 2017 Charlie Paton

Written by Christopher Rothera

I am delighted that, seven months since first arriving into Somaliland to start this journey, we have successfully completed the construction of the Seawater Greenhouse Somaliland compound. The local team, headed up by our rising star Abdihakiim Mohamed Riraash, has taken up the mantel of Seawater Greenhouse Somaliland and begun the horticultural work and daily operations. Seawater Greenhouse UK and local partners PENHA are managing the progress and logistics and we look forward to our first harvest in a few months! Abdihakiim is operating the desalination system, powered by sunlight, which is the first of its kind in the entire Horn of Africa. With this desalination system, coupled with our evaporative cooling technology, we have brought restorative agriculture to the coast of Somaliland; slowly but surely the green is going to return around our site.

The final construction tasks

The Evaporator Walls

The last major job was to erect the four evaporator walls on both greenhouses. These evaporator walls are made up of specialised corrugated card pads that become drenched in seawater. The hot dry wind of the local environment comes through these evaporator walls, picks up the rapidly evaporating moisture and enters the greenhouses as water vapour. The salt meanwhile concentrates on the evaporator walls and drains into waiting tanks beneath the walls, to eventually be turned into sea salt. The presence of this water vapour inside the Seawater Greenhouses raises the humidity inside to 99% and drops the temperature from 45 degrees to 25 degrees, creating an optimised environment ‘oasis effect’ to grow our crops.

Setting up the Salt Shed

Once the evaporator walls were finished we turned our attention to the Salt Shed. Up until now, it had effectively been used as a storage shed for our final materials and tools. After clearing out these final bits, organising them and finding them new homes within the compound, we brought in the salt evaporator trays and prepared the building.

The first Seawater Greenhouse Somaliland sea salt, bagged, sealed and ready for your meal

Handing Over to our Local Team

Charlie Paton and Karl Fletcher spent time with Abdihakiim, giving support and final training for the day to day operations of the site, setting up the growing plan with him, and laying out support and managing system to ensure Abdihakiim has access to all the help he needs to ensure a smooth start.

This Seawater Greenhouse compound, we hope, is the first of many more to come. It brings about so much potential for change, not just in the country of Somaliland but on a global stage, to provide food, jobs and security. The long term goal is for this humble 1 hectare compound to be a stepping stone to major expansion and kick start a new industry of agriculture in the region, the rest of Africa and beyond. It all starts with a single seed.

Start the Countdown!

October 8, 2017 Charlie Paton

Start the Countdown!

Written by Christopher Rothera

It has been another productive week for all of us here in Somaliland. We are now counting down the days until we have completed the construction and Seawater Greenhouse Somaliland can officially begin production. We are hitting the final major milestones in the construction with two being reached this week; the switching on of the RO system, and the shade netting of both of the Seawater Greenhouses being erected.

Planting

Now that we are nearly finished with the implementation phase, we are able to focus, in earnest, on the planting. Our own horticultural manager, Hassan Isaac, has been continuing with his growing plan, with over 650 seedlings now being propagated to be transplanted and with thousands more to come!

Hassan has been sat at his self-made planting station with his production-line of seeds, jiffy pots and propagators setting up the first crop. We all cannot wait for the first harvest, a few months from now; with all the hard work from all sides, those first tomatoes will taste oh so sweet!

The Reverse Osmosis System

We are now producing fresh water, courtesy of the sea! Opubo Igobo of Aston University returned to Somaliland this week to perform the final operational tests on the RO system before he attached the final plumbing connections and flicked the switch. The fresh water from our PV powered desalination system will now be quenching the thirst of both the plants and my team alike!

And just like that, fresh water begins to flow

The Netting

I and my team have again been focusing solely on the Seawater Greenhouse netting this week, finishing the Nursery first before tackling the main Seawater Greenhouse. The process to erecting the shade netting begins with unrolling, and laying out, each net under the SG before carefully lifting the net over each of the greenhouse cables. The net is then unfolded slowly from one end to the other whilst using special netting clips to temporarily hold the netting in place. These nets are very large, even small gusts of wind can make the netting unmanageable, so these temporary clips are essential. The whole team then returns to one end of the netting and begins to apply clips as well as tension to the net, along its entire length, until finally the very ends of the netting is anchored into the ground.

The finished Nursery, reporting for duty

Netting, unfolded and about to be clipped

Finally filling in all those bloody trenches!

Until Next Time

Next week shall see our storage tanks slowly filling with desalinated fresh water and the team changing focus to installing our evaporative cooling walls. These specialised walls provide the oasis effect necessary to allow us to grow crops in these hot, arid regions of the world for 1/10th the water than does traditional agriculture. After this installation of these evaporator walls, all major construction jobs will finally be complete and we can begin full site operations testing... and maybe a bit of celebrating! See you there soon.

The Final Stages

September 29, 2017 Charlie Paton

WhatsApp Image 2017-09-29 at 14.36.28.jpeg

Written by Chris Rothera

After a delay to construction caused by severe weather out here in the Horn of Africa, I am happy to announce that we are back and it is now the beginning of the end of the construction phase of this Seawater Greenhouse Pilot in Somaliland. Only a few weeks remain of the construction with the netting coming up fast day by day.

Where we left off before the weather hit home

Before the weather forced us to disband for a few weeks, director of Seawater Greenhouse Ltd. Mr Charlie Paton had joined the team in Somaliland to see the progress and to provide training to the local team on the technology.

Great strides were made in the fitting out of the site, prepping of the RO system and plumbing up the entire compound. The plumbing, being a major milestone, had the same effect on the team as when the power came on for the first time. The first time the water rushed our of a recently installed tap was truly great feeling.

Trenches and pipes became the daily view

The importance of water

I wish to highlight this image in particular that has been the constant of the construction; bottled water. The heat and conditions in this part of the world are severe in general and the amount of water in the above image, 72 750ml bottles is the amount of water needed for five staff to remain hydrated throughout a working day on site. That is approximately 14 bottles per person. The Horn of Africa is currently suffering through one of the worst droughts seen in 30 years, and I have seen much evidence of this throughout my time in Somaliland, and heard stories of loss from many of the staff working on my site. The need of water here is so crucial, and so difficult to acquire. I truly believe that the Seawater Greenhouse has the potential and ability to help with a completely sustainable, off grid solution to agriculture. This is why everyone involved in this project, in whichever capacity, is working very hard to see this implemented and to succeed.

Since getting back

Construction began again, in full swing I might add, four days ago. The current task, the task that will take a further week or so, is to erect the shade netting of the Seawater Greenhouses. The Nursery SG is nearly now complete, with only a few sections of netting left to put up and our largest Seawater Greenhouse is next in line. It is great to have the team back in action again, and with the finish line clearly in sight, we are hitting the ground running. Each day, leaving the site at the end of a hard slog, has rewarded us with a new skyline as more and more of the greenhouses have been completed.

We may be hard at work but there's always time for tea. Come on now..

Planting has begun!

While my team and I are focused on finishing the the Seawater Greenhouses, Hassan, our horticultural manager, has taken the lead on planting. Our first set of tomato, cucumber, lettuce and many more crops are being seeded as I type! The green is returning to the desert my friends.

Hassan the head grower getting his thumb green

Seawater Greenhouse Somaliland Construction - Where We Are Now

August 22, 2017 Charlie Paton

Original post by Chrisopher Rothera on August 11th, 2017

Construction of the Seawater Greenhouse Somaliland Pilot has been hard underway since returning from the Ramadan break at the start of July. It has been wonderful to re-unite with the team and to be back on site. Sadia, Amsale and John of team PENHA have worked diligently to see the project continue moving smoothly and as such, everything was ready for us to continue construction the day we arrived back into Somaliland. Much has happened with the construction since the previous update and, now in August, we are into the final stages. The Solar PV Array has been installed and the whole site has been wired up and now has a source of renewable power, the Seawater Greenhouses are prepped and ready for netting, our seawater well is finished, plumbing is underway and the RO system is being put into place!

Final Shipment and Solar Panels

Week 6 saw the arrival and unloading of our final container of materials; everything that we need to fit out our entire site,

and not least our shade netting, which will help to keep our entire site cool!

Work on the Solar PV array began this week, with the first step installing the mounting brackets on the roof of the work building.

Karl and Abdihakiim concentrating hard through a dust storm!

The brackets were fiddly work, however were quick to assemble as a routine established itself

With the brackets up the panels followed in quick succession.

With all hands on deck the panels were up in no time.

Turning the Light On

The seventh week of construction saw the arrival of Opubo Igobo, of Aston University. Opubo joined the team on site for a week to wire up the office and connect the Solar PV array. Opubo’s visit was short, but amazingly productive; it was great to have him with us.

It all started in the tech room, putting together the consumer unit and control units.

Then wiring the solar panels together in the correct series.

And then finally moving on to wiring up the site

When the first light came on for the first time the whole team cheered; it was an amazing milestone!

Tanks Installation

One of the next big milestone jobs that has been accomplished was installing the 3 large water storage tanks, that shall be storing our seawater, RO fresh water and irrigation water.

The tank bodies came together fairly quickly, and it was motivating for the team seeing the quick progress.

The whole team came together to setting up the tank liners and fittings.

Before long all three tanks where installed with all valves fitted.

With the tanks installed, we hired a local water truck to ballast the tank liners and test for any leaks.

Trench Digging

A major part of the work that has been done recently has been trench digging. This has come in two different forms; Seawater Greenhouse netting trenches that will anchor the netting in the ground, and then channel trenches that carry the plumbing and electrics throughout the site.

The shallow channel trenches spider-web across the site between the greenhouses, tanks the salt shed and the work building, whilst the netting trenches wrap around both Seawater Greenhouses.

The Team

Working in Somaliland on a project such as this requires a large team, from security, to labour staff, to management and support, food and transport. We have a great team here in Somaliland, with everybody working together to see this project come to life. It has been a long journey and we are now coming towards the end. I am very grateful to everybody involved who has helped bring us this far, and I look forward to carrying on working on the final stages with the team as we bring the Seawater Greenhouse Somaliland project to a success.

Weeks 4 & 5, and June has brought the heat!

August 22, 2017 Charlie Paton

Original post by Christopher Rothera on June 11th, 2017

The past two weeks have flown by, and with a lot of progress made in these two weeks, the finish line is starting to come into sight! Our team continue to work very hard, and I am ever thankful to them all for their contributions to the Seawater Greenhouse project. Hassan Aadam, Awil, Mohammad, Endo, Sandhere, Hassan, Feisal, Mousse, Jamma, Yusuf, Abdihakiim, AbdulRahman, Mustafa and Hassan have been keeping the project on track!

Team PENHA

Sadia, Amsale, Jon and Abdiasis are continuing to keep the project flowing smoothly in-country, and we are grateful for all of your hard effort to seeing Seawater Greenhouse Somaliland become a reality.

Week 4

Week 3 saw the major four structures being constructed, however, though they may be standing, they are all far from being finished! Week 4 began the task of fitting these structures out; for the Work Building, this involved getting the doors on.

For Christopher Strange this was fast work!

In week 4, the salt shed had it’s tables finished, that will eventually hold our salt trays; Somaliland Sea Salt will soon be on its way!

Solar Panel Prep

With the doors on the Work Building, and the two containers on site planned to be removed later in week 4, it was time to empty the 20 ft container and organise the PV array and its components.

Any excuse to break out the pick up truck! Pile of panels in the back with team!

We slowly organised and arranged the panels, batteries and accessories into one of the waiting empty rooms; ready for use when we install them on the roof.

This solar array provides 10 KW of power, allowing our Seawater Greenhouses to operate completely off-grid. The array will power everything from the desalination system, to the evaporator walls, to charging your phone in the office.

Well deserved break after some battery and panel moving

The Nursery Seawater Greenhouse

Prep work was done on the Nursery Seawater Greenhouse for the Evaporator Walls; the first mounting timber runners were installed.

The posts are the birds' favourite spot to socialise

Tank Prep

Towards the end of week 4, work was also done in preparation for the large galvanised water storage tanks; frames were built for each to create a sand layer base.

The four tanks, each will hold water of varying salinity concentrations; from fresh, to seawater, to brine, to maiden brine.

Chris about to be blasted by wind and sand, but what an action shot!

Bye - Bye containers

The end of week 4 saw the removal of the two containers that we have had on site since the beginning of construction. With them gone a big change in dynamic came to the site; a subtle milestone signalling the progression made and how much closer we are getting to completion.

Having the containers gone gave us some ample opportunity to do some site clearing, and it was another chance to put the pickup to some good use.

Week 5

Week 5 brought us into June, and with it came a very sudden change of weather; the temperature has gotten slightly hotter, (and it’s climbing!), and the wind changed direction. The wind, which used to come from the sea throughout May, is now blowing from inland, and with it comes the dust, so it has been goggles on ever since.

June has not only brought the wind, however, it has also brought the return of Karl Fletcher!

Karl has returned to Somaliland to help out with the site as we move towards the final push of construction. We are all thrilled to have him back with us!

Early Week 5 saw more work being done with the Evaporator Wall mounting runners.

Nice to watch the sun rise as we get to work

And with the base runners done, the tops follow!

The Seawater Greenhouse takes more shape each week

As well as the runners, early week 5 saw early morning trips with the pickup truck to some nearby dunes to collect sand for the tank base frames.

Some more nice hard work for the soul followed this when we dug out and fitted in the 6 open brine tanks that supply the Evaporator Walls. Nothing says technical work more than a spade in the hand!

The loo

Week 5 also saw the completion and grande opening of the compound toilette! A much welcome addition to the site.

Block word foundation, put together by Jamma

The loo started with the block-work foundation to give the base some strength, with the main structure being built atop it.

Piping going in, one door remaining and it's good to go

The Salt Shed

With the tables constructed in the Salt Shed in the previous week, the final step to the external fit-out was putting up the fine mesh netting that will keep the dust out of the salt. Christopher Strange led the charge, throughout week 5 for this task; due to strong winds in the morning, we had to choose our moment to get the net installed. With lots of prep work done, over the course of a few days the netting was slowly put up.

And finally the Salt Shed building is complete.

Net up, doors on, tables ready and... it's a store shed until the end of construction!

Finishing the salt shed was the final bit of work done in week 5. It was an amazing accomplishment as we thank Adam Paton and Christopher Strange and their team for the amazing hard work and effort in putting up the two building.

Week 5 was Christopher Strange’s final week with us on site. He has now returned back the UK. Chris has been with us since the first full week of construction on the site, and through his hard work has seen it grow from the empty, arid land it was to the Seawater Greenhouse compound it has become. You will be missed, Chris, we appreciate all you have done for the site and Seawater Greenhouse.

Week 6 and a Ramadan Break

We are currently into the start of week 6, lots more to be done! June also has brought the start of Ramadan, and the end of Ramadan sees a 2 week break in Somaliland where no work will be done as families and communities come together to pray and reflect. As such, construction shall be postponed for this period of two weeks, and shall begin again in July. Week 6 is the last before the short break.

We are all excited for the work still to be done, and it’s moments like this on site that make working on the Seawater Greenhouse Somaliland site such a privilege. Stay tuned for more updates! Ramadan Kareem.

Week Three and It's Heating Up!

August 22, 2017 Charlie Paton

Original post by Christopher Rothera on May 26th, 2017

With the third week of construction finished we have reached even more milestones in the construction timeline; the team have continued to excel themselves and I am very grateful to them for their hard work. This week saw the completion of the four major structures in the compound;

The Work Building,

The Salt Shed,

The Nursery Seawater Greenhouse,

The Seawater Greenhouse,

The tensioned Seawater Greenhouse, ready for netting!

With these structures being completed, this means that the construction now shifts to a new phase, starting next week, of structure fit-out, net installation, electrical installation and plumbing, before we move onto the final phases of planting and systems testing.

The Seawater Greenhouses

The final steps to finishing the structures of the two Seawater Greenhouses this week began with finishing the installation of the cable anchors, which involved using a power drive rod to force them into the ground.

Tea break in between anchors

After this step was completed, the next step carried out was to install both the guy wires and the structural wire-rope cables.

The last step was to carefully tension all the cables for both Seawater Greenhouses.

The Work Building and Salt Shed

Christopher Strange has spent week three focused on completing the structures of the Salt Shed and Work Building; his week has been spent primarily focused on the Salt Shed as the majority of the Work Building construction was completed last week. Despite Chris’s colleague, Adam Paton, departing Somaliland at the end of last week, Chris has worked diligently to finalise both structures by the end of the week, whilst also providing a great energy to the site.

Wells

On the last day of week three, we arranged for an excavator to come to site for the digging and installation of three wells, that will be the source of our salt water and brackish water, to be fed to our RO system.

Excavator action has the whole team involved!

This job is still ongoing and is due to be completed the first day of week four.

Week three saw the completion of some of the hardest jobs of the entire construction and for our day off we took a team vacation trip to the beautiful and breath-taking mountains of Sheekh, an hour’s drive south of Berbera, for a well-deserved day of fun. Here the mountains are evergreen and the views are stunning, and the altitude meant that we could escape the 40+ degree temperatures of Berbera for the day!

Two Weeks In

August 22, 2017 Charlie Paton

Original post by Christopher Rothera on May 19th, 2017

With just over two weeks of construction complete, the site is transforming before our eyes; the team are all working very hard and we are all incredibly pleased with the progress achieved thus far. We have all settled into the routine nicely with dawn starts to the day to avoid the worst of the African Sun, and with the onset of summer in Somaliland, temperatures are now creeping up towards 40 degrees. Many construction milestones have been achieved in these two weeks with the main structures of the two Seawater Greenhouses as well as the two buildings being erected.

As ever, we are thankful to our project partners PENHA whom are continually keeping the project running smoothly, in-country, with their co-ordination and logistical planning.

Week One

In the early days of the first full week of construction there was a considerable amount of setting out and forward planning for the upcoming weeks; materials were organised and laid out, and the different components of the compound were surveyed.

We were all very sad to see Karl Fletcher leave Somaliland mid-week, back to the UK, he was an amazing energy to have on site, and he will be missed.

Karl getting ready for some post bashing!

With Karl’s departure, however, came the arrival of Adam Paton and Christopher Strange, of Adam Lloyd Construction Ltd. Adam and Chris have been taking lead on the construction of the work building and salt shed and with their combined experience, efficiency and skill in construction the two buildings have been progressing rapidly these two weeks.

With Adam and Chris Settled into their work, I continued with my team into the construction of the perimeter fence and the two Seawater Greenhouses. There was fast progress made in the first week for the fence and Seawater Greenhouses, with all posts erected for all three components before the end of the week.

First proper day of construction, getting in the very first posts

The last day of the first week was spent organising materials and tools needed for the coming week and beginning the installation of the post caps for the Seawater Greenhouses.

By the end of the first week of construction, Adam and Chris, and their team had managed to make great strides into the construction of the work building, with the first walls up by the last day.

Week Two

After a nice day off, everybody was ready to get stuck in for the new week.

For Adam and Chris, this involved continuing with their work for the work building, however, with considerable progress being made with the work building, they began to focus work more on the salt shed.

My team and I continued work with the Seawater Greenhouses and the perimeter fence, splitting into two teams to work on various tasks simultaneously. One team continued to install the post caps, whilst the second team focused on installing the timber bracing on the Seawater Greenhouses.

By mid-week Adam and Chris with their team had made great strides with their work and the roof of the work building was half complete and the salt shed was really taking shape.

My team had completed the bracing for the Seawater Greenhouses, as well as the posts cap fixtures, and we had begun work on installing the anchors that keep the cables of the Seawater Greenhouses fixed and tensioned. This job, being a labour intensive process has been taken slowly and is still ongoing, with the aim of completing this task by middle of week 3.

The last day of week two, Thursday 18th of May, was Somaliland’s Independence Day, and as such was a national holiday. The majority of our staff took a well-deserved day off to celebrate, with Adam, Chris and myself having the day on site to continue work. It was also Adam Paton’s final day on site, as he is returning to the UK. With that in mind, Adam and Chris were extremely productive and worked laboriously throughout the day.

Salt shed now with the twin-walled poly-carbonate roofing

I continued work with the Nursery Seawater Greenhouse; the anchors for the Nursery had all been installed by the last day and so the cables were ready to be installed. My day was spent unrolling reels of wire rope cable, fitting them into place and installing the fixtures for each.

With a successful final day of week two on site, and with Adam departing, we ended the day with a swim in the sea; benefits of the Seawater Greenhouse!

Seawater Greenhouse Somaliland Construction is Underway!

August 22, 2017 Charlie Paton

Original post by Christopher Rothera on May 5th, 2017

I am very pleased to announce that, three years since the initiation of the Seawater Greenhouse Somaliland project, construction of the pilot has now begun! With a great team assembled, and the guidance of our amazing partners PENHA ( The Pastoral & Environmental Network in the Horn of Africa) who are facilitating the project in-country http://www.penhanetwork.org/, we are optimistic for a smooth and successful installation over the next few months.

Orchestrated by the Director of Seawater Greenhouse, Charlie Paton, and alongside partners PENHA and Aston University, this project aims to provide drought resilience to the agricultural industry in Somaliland. Through best practice in protected agriculture and horticultural science together with our developments in seawater cooling and desalination, we will create the potential for the cultivation of vast tracts of unused, arid land for food production. Somaliland, as well as the majority of the Horn of Africa, is one of the most food insecure countries in the world. With annual yields averaging 0.5 tons per hectare and only 1.6% of the 600,000 km2 country area (FAO) being cultivated. With the new line of Seawater Greenhouses, developed over these three years through research and design, we aim to produce up to 300 tons per hectare.

The Site

The site is located 17km west of Berbera, the major port town of Somaliland, and is on the fringe of a large dried up wadi (river).

The landscape is arid and blisteringly hot; however the restorative agricultural approach of the Seawater Greenhouse will go a long way to re-hydrating and revitalising the land around the site.

The Construction Team

From the Seawater Greenhouse UK Team
- Christopher Rothera – Construction Manager and Head Design Engineer
- Karl Fletcher - Head of Business Development
From the Seawater Greenhouse Somaliland Team
- Hassan Hussein - Greenhouse Manager & Head Horticultaralist
- Abdihakiim Mohamed Riirassh - Assistant Manager & Horticultaralist
From Adam Lloyd Construction, UK Subcontract Team
- Adam Paton – Construction Specialist
- Christopher Strange – Construction Specialist
Somaliland Support Staff
- General Labour staff hired from local communities
- Transportation
- Site Security
- Catering

The PENHA Team

Sadia Ahmed - Country Representative
Asmale Shibeshi - Regional Programme Coordinator
John Livingstone - Regional Policy Officer
Abdiasiis Yusuf Bakaal - Assistant Administrative & Logistics Officer

The Aston Team

Dr Philip Davies - Mechanical Engineering & Design
Opus Igobo - Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Environmental Engineering
Dr Takeshi Akinaga - Research Fellow

The First Days of Construction

With official confirmation that the site was ready early this week, we have worked fast to begin the project; Karl Fletcher handled container inspections at Berbera Port to prepare for their transfer to the site whilst I and team PENHA prepared final logistics for the construction phase.

The site was cleared to prepare for the build with the use of an earth mover

Three Containers were brought to the site with one container being fully unloaded before it returned to the port

Site surveying and materials organisation began yesterday (Thursday 04/05/2017) and with Fridays being the weekend in Somaliland, construction continues Saturday.It has been a long journey and it is a great milestone for construction to have begun. Stay tuned for updates on the construction as we progress, we are looking forward to an amazing next few months