In our last blogpost “Construction phase 2: The construction of the upper floor of the Oloo’s Children Centre” we reported about the completion of the two floors as well as the roof in September 2020. Despite the adverse circumstances caused by the Corona pandemic, due to which our architect Oliver von Malm was unfortunately unable to supervise the construction on site, the construction of the upper floor and the roof were completed in record time. We are very proud of what a great job our team did on site under the guidance of Lazarus Asewe!
Now that the shell of the building is complete, all that is left is the work inside the building. Here, too, all the team members in Kibera are doing their best: the sanitary facilities are being installed, the screed is being laid, doors are being fitted, and the window and door frames are being painted. All the rooms are being made ready to move in and become a place where the students can feel comfortable and learn well.
After six months of construction, during which more than 7,200 bricks were manufactured on site in our own hollow concrete block factory and installed in the school building, the big moment has arrived: The new Oloo’s Children Centre, the world’s first building constructed entirely from our newly developed hollow concrete blocks, is ready for occupancy. The school offers space for 400 children in the middle of Kibera. When the Kenyan government then also decides that the children in Kenya are finally allowed back into the classroom, the joy on all sides is enormous as the students and teachers inaugurate their new school.
Finally, we have also found the perfect name for our certified hollow concrete blocks: the Start SomewhereTwistBlocks. Our TwistBlocks already have their own website, where you can read everything you need to know and plan your own projects with the TwistBlocks.
By the way, parallel to the completion of the school construction, the next projects with our TwistBlocks already started elsewhere. Together with our new partner NGO Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI) we already implemented some projects earlier in the year. A landscape project of KDI should now be built with our system. Oliver created the construction plans for the planned seating on the grounds of the KDI Primary School in Kibera and Start Somewhere delivered the required 720 bricks from the manufactory to the KDI construction site.
We were also commissioned to renew the fencing at Global One High School, which was in need of renovation. Here, too, 420 TwistBlocks were manufactured and installed on the basis of Oliver’s construction plans.
We are proud that our stones not only make large projects like Oloo’s Children Centre possible, but also support many smaller projects. In this way, we are getting closer to our big vision step by step.
We already have many more great things planned for 2021, which we will report on very soon.
