40 days to go..

The construction guys are getting excited - final changes have been made to the design now to reduce the amount of soil and mulch we have to bring on site to level it out. 100 cubic metres was just too much to shift in the short amount of time we have to dismantle it all when the show is over - just 3 days! So, I've given up on the idea of having steps up to our shed the whole way across the front, and now we have one 2.5m ramp only. It makes life much easier and we've saved ourselves some 70 cubic metres of fill. Phew!

Anthony, our construction team manager, has asked for a copy of the plans for all his boys to put under their pillows. They need to be eating, dreaming and drinking MIFGS now.. (also known as Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show) Every Thursday we meet as a team at Swinburne - it's a growing buzz of excitement there that is evident immediately behind the door of the horticulture department, The enthusiasm is testament to the commitment these teachers have in giving their students the best education possible. They are revelling in soaking up every aspect of the design, plotting the daily construction tasks and thinking about how the students might slot into the grand plan. Anthony's boys will work with the Swinburne teachers and students, so now we have to bond the whole team together with some social interaction of the relaxation kind. War stories will be trotted out from MIFGS veterans, and eager MIFGS newcomers in our team will hungrily absorb every word. We develop our culture of mutual respect, professionalism, pride and a common goal during this bonding session - so important to a huge undertaking like this. Planning, planning and more planning.


Likely location of bonding session - all in the theme!

The timber for the frame of the shed arrives today, so by next week some of the floor modules will be taking shape. This 12 x 9 metre shed will be constructed in modules that will then bolt together on site. We've taken levels at the site and they will be replicated on a hill at Swinburne to give a real practise run on this construction. It's where we're expecting things will need adjusting if anywhere on site is going to need it. Constructing the shed beforehand also allows the main sponsors to see how the space will feel and look for their forums to be held during the show.

We've still got some materials to track down in the next week: crushed granite toppings in an Ayer's Rock colour for one section of the garden. it needs to be a toasted orange / red colour and i have no idea where to find it. I've got to find time for a trip to the mudstone people - Transrock - who have kindly agreed to lend us some beautiful new mudstone to construct our drystone wall around the red toppings path. We're getting to the end of the materials sourcing list, but with 40 days to go we're cutting it fine!