The first concrete has been poured on site with the bulk of the foundations poured. This will now be prepped ready for the rest of the hardfill to be placed within the foundations in readiness for the floor slab to sit on top.

 Concrete going in. In the background students from NMIT carpentry course look on as they have recently been studying reinforcing steel so Instructor Alan Barnes asked if they could view the steel in place and the concrete being poured. Of course we all need to learn so we are happy to be able to help up and coming potential tradespeople.

Approximately 30 cubic metres of concrete was poured.

Boxing has started for the foundations

 Laying the mesh that helps form the raft

 Hardfill going in on top of mesh in the rebate

Filling in the cutouts ready to lay next layer of hardfill

 The cut outs you can see here form what is called a gravel raft once the hardfill is placed, helping to stabilize the ground under the floor and help prevent such things as liquefaction as has been seen in Christchurch. Fortunately, things have been learned and put into action and we will all benefit from these learning experiences.

 Looking back towards the South (above)

Pictures of the excavations almost complete, rain last week caused a few issues with the ground but back on track now with this nice sunny spell :)

Demo

The old building ready to be demolished

View from the main road

Flooring being removed so it can be reused in the lobby, bringing some of the old into the new

Removing the roofing iron to make demo easier

We have started on site and the old building which is around 110 years old has now been demolished. Site excavation has begun and next week we will be into boxing foundations. I will keep this blog updated so people can see progress throughout the job.