This is Build IT’s most ambitious project to date. It has taken a long time to set everything up but over the past two months the work has begun in earnest:

• A bore hole was drilled and hand-pump installed in July
•  Site survey and layout plan for the 1,000 place school completed in August
• Final design, budget and contractor signed up for a 1 x 3 classroom end August and a science laboratory/library by mid September.
• Site cleared, safe storage and building materials workshop space set up end August with PPHP appointed to manufacture the required 40,000 soil blocks
• PEAS representative arrives to recruit teachers and set up the school – September
• Funds finally secured for 2011 programme including the first phase of a 100 bed girls dormitory – drawings now being finalised.

We are delighted that our good friend Malcolm Alcock has been appointed to manage this project. He is overseeing the local contractors, procurement of all materials and the training of 10-12 local young men and women in basic building skills.

Whilst the formal training hasn’t yet started, we have recruited labourers from the local community and three men that we trained in 2009 at the Kawama project. They are manufacturing column and blocks and will be building latrines.

Because of the high volume of blocks required we are using a machine known as hydraform that can produce up to 1,000 blocks a day of a high standard. This compares with 250 hand pressed blocks.

Malcolm has just sent us his latest report. Here is an extract:

‘Things are looking good. So far, 14,000 blocks have been produced. Pad foundations for the column blocks are laid with the appropriate re-bars fixed in place.  Andrews, the contractor, is excited about using this system as he can see how quick it can be to use and saves on a lot of formwork and time and ultimately money.

Concrete has been laid in all the footings to the required depth and a few layers of hydraform have been also laid on one side of the building area.

The three ex-trainees from Kawama have been hired by the contractor and he is happy with their work. So we must have done a good job training them!

Finally, the two containers are now on site so we have secure storage for all the materials. The weather is still great but it’s starting to get hot during the day’