...two floors, connected (nearly)

Huge amounts of progress to report since my last post (A Tale of Two Floors), downstairs, upstairs and in between.

Fire escape with alarm box and (wiring for) light

Looking along in front of the boat store

The view from the public car park

Downstairs, our volunteers have been getting on with boarding out the rooms, particularly some more plaster board on the walls and ceiling of a meeting room and the dry store, and continuing the sterling board around the galley, toilet, changing/shower rooms.  There are now very few walls without any boarding on, so there is for the first time a real feel for the way you move around the floor.  In other words, no-one can nip through the walls anymore, instead you have to go along corridors and through doors, just like a real building!

Finishing the dry store ceiling

The dry store - plenty of space here

Downstairs toilet

Plaster-boarding the meeting rooms

Male changing room - you can't see through to the ladies' anymore (phew!)

Upstairs, the scaffolding is fully installed in the meeting hall for installing the insulation, boarding and electrics, huge amounts of materials have been delivered and there is excellent progress on walls, roof, electrics, new ceiling for loft space, cupboards, meeting room walls....  When I popped in today to take some photos, it was a hive of activity with a range of trades getting on with their work.  And last night was another one of our volunteer working parties (sorry I missed it waiting for the RAC to come and help me home, but that is another story).

Access to storage space above the stairs

Scaffolding and materials

A rather full main hall at the moment!

New ceiling for loft space

Above the main entrance and stairs, there is a new ceiling ready for storage space above, so that is one part of the "in between" work.

The entrance has a ceiling now - more space above

Ground floor lift frame

First floor controls - and temporary barrier

Also well underway is the installation of the lift.  The lift shaft has been prepared over recent weeks, and now the frame, electrics, winch cables etc. are in place, waiting for the lift carriage to go in.  We will soon have a fully installed and working lift; another major milestone cleared.

Looking up the lift shaft at the winch cables

Hey, what do you think this is - a boat store or a wood store?
(Ceiling cladding for upstairs)

A tale of two floors

Inspired by the title of this write-up of last weekend's Remembrance Day parades, it occurred to me that the current work at the Aquativity Centre is "A tale of two floors".
I know the photos in this post are not the best quality - it was the best I could do during a working party well after dark last night.

The volunteers (parents and leaders of Eling Sea Scouts) are continuing to work downstairs at a series of working parties on Thursday evenings.  We are busy insulating, wiring and boarding walls and ceilings.  Yesterday, for example, we plaster boarded walls in a meeting room following the first fix electrics going in these, we completed the insulation and first layer of plaster boarding for the dry store ceiling, and we fixed up various pieces of sterling board in the entrance hall.  The lights in the boat store are in and working, which makes a huge difference to the feel of the place.

 
Meanwhile, we've hired a team of professionals to come in and take on the bigger work upstairs.  Scaffolding is going in next week to enable them to insulate and board the ceiling of the main hall, as well as letting the electricians put in the wiring for permanent lighting.  Many of the materials for this work have been delivered, so there are sheets of insulation all over the building.  Joists have been put in for additional ceilings where we want to create storage areas.

With a team working full time on the first floor, we will see very rapid progress compared to our more steady pace downstairs.  This is a deliberate policy and to an extent a change in policy from our earlier concentration on the boat store; we are now focused on getting the main first floor hall open so the Sea Scouts can move in and start to use the building.  We do want to keep moving forward in all areas, hence the ongoing volunteer work on the ground floor, but the paid help for the main hall will really accelerate the project.