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!