More Foundation Work

I've got to say so far that I'm impressed with the pace of progress. The Azevedo guys sure know how to graft hard.

This week I've had two wonderful sets of photos: one set from my project manager, who regularly updates me once or twice per week, and another set from Soren, who as previously mentioned, recently moved to the island. He was kind enough to pass the plot the other day to have a peek at how things where progressing... I think from his message he was liking it :)

So here are the project managers pictures:

Here we see 'that' beautiful sky again. Jeez. It looks like the guys are working on the foundations for the lowest level of the terraces - although it is difficult to tell without being there. I'm guessing this, because the tree level is way up high, and the heights of the pillars are impressive. Looking at this makes me go "ohmegod".

Seriously surrounded by metalwork. The guys here are tying the various reinforcements together to form a tight net for the concrete. You can bet I'm going to buy them a few beers when I'm over. This is hard graft.

Here we can see the construction of the reinforcement, which complies to the architects specifications and drawings shown below. We can also see the freshly laid foundation work (darker grey), and the already well hardened (lighter grey) deep pier foundations under the upright metalwork.

In fact, it looks as though the reinforcement has been over-engineered compared to the specification. Good to see, and signs of a good building company. No penny pinching here.

Here's a plan of the foundation piers - lots of them. From what I can gather, the builders in the pictures above are working on the top section; the ones that support the decking and the kitchen / living area.

Here we see the reinforcement going up for the retaining wall at the first terrace boundary. This is shown by the dark black line shown in the drawing above. We can see here that it is about 2.1 meters high (just above head height) and will be the under-house parking and storage, with the option to make into an enclosed garage and workshop later.

Now, Soren's photos where taken from a different perspective: he was just looking as an observer, rather than reporting on progress. So his pictures show some things I'd not seen before and fill in a few gaps.

Soren managed to park his 'Landy' outside the house on the newly created parking space. The wall has yet to be backfilled. The important part of this wall is to function as a support for next door's towering old stone wall. A collapse of this would have not been good. So shored up, we can all relax a little. As you can see from the materials, there is still plenty of work to do.

The temporary drive surface, with the rebuilt wall to the farmhouse next door. Looks good, and will allow material deliveries to make it down onto the land and terraces. The retaining wall for the raised tree area has yet to be completed.

Who said building was a tidy business? Looks like the builders have moved up to the next level.

It looks tiny... but this is just two of the box sections shown in the plan above. So this is the first part of the under-house parking and storage.

So, that's it for now - and it is good to see sustained rapid progress. As an aside, Azevedo has been doing all this preparatory work without payment so far - of course I have offered payment as soon as required, but it is good to know that there is a substantial level of trust by this builder. My project manager has matters in hand, and no doubt it is due to his reputation and reliability that the project has moved on so rapidly since the planning was granted.

Next Up ... Ground Works Continue ...