At this point we were only supplied with basic hand sketch concepts of the main villa unit, we immediately saw the potential in the makings of a really exciting and challenging project. We embarked on several variations of cost estimates for the project as a whole to establish a broad-based budget to present to the Client including numerous estimates on ancillary buildings and services, sans any preliminary designs from the Architect, that would be required to service the Villa and island including staff facilities, recreation areas, service buildings, and respective main services for water production and storage as well as Power and sewer management.
The island is totally uninhabited and fairly well vegetated but highly environmentally sensitive thus a “kids gloves” approach needed to be taken in all aspects of design in terms of construction methodology and implementation. The T&B approach to all projects is to premanufacture and prepare as much as possible in advance thus reducing both waste and construction period on-site – to create a function of assembly as opposed to pure construction on site, this approach is perfectly suited to this application.
After nearly a year of extensive research and close collaboration with the professional team in developing the most sustainable, efficient, and practical project package, especially taking into account the harsh environment, we negotiated the final scope of work and were awarded the project in November 2013.
Much to our disappointment, the project was delayed for nearly a year due to environmental beaurocracy and we eventually only started shipping goods to the island in August 2014 however we saw the positive side and took the opportunity to refine and develop our planning instead of sitting around and waiting which has allowed us to start the project running.
Apart from the main villa, the final scope of works included a Helipad, several services and staff buildings along various recreational facilities including a Tennis court, Games room, Two Breakfast hides and floating facilities on the leeward side of the Island. All of these also obviously needed to be serviced in terms of Water, Sewer and power and bearing in mind that the entire project would be managed and supported by the relatively unskilled local staff we needed to find balance in finding uncomplicated, hardy and low maintenance systems.
Also bearing in mind that there was nothing on the Island and only accessible by boat the actual construction work is the easiest part of the project with the challenge lying in the management of logistics of both materials and accommodating labour on site.
Shungi Mbili Island Marine Reserve
LOCATION
SHUNGU MBILI AT A GLANCE
Location:
Shungu Mbili Island, 14Km North West off Mafia Island, Tanzania
Access:
Boat & Barge only (Helicopter facility to follow)
Extent:
• Main Villa (1185m²)
• Staff Quarters (315m²)
• Services Building (107m²)
• Boat house & Breakfast area (244m²)
• Breakfast Hide (75m²)
• Tennis Court & Games room (180m²)
• Timber walkways (300m)
• Heli pad
• Solar panel area (523m² )
• Desalination & Water treatment with 60KL bulk storage
• Sewer treatment to all areas with recycling back into irrigation system
• 6500L Salt water aquarium situated in Main Villa
• Infinity Swimming pool including spa rim flow pool in main Villa
• Timber Jetty
Services supplied by T&B:
• Preliminary cost estimate & Viability
• Design & Draughting
• Development of Construction methodology & Service installations
• Project management
• Procurement & Logistics
• Export & Customs
• Temporary staff camp & services
• All construction work complete
• Interior fittings & Fixtures
• Design, supply & Install of bulk services (Water, Sewer & Power)
• Low Voltage installations complete – V-sat communications, TV & Mnet,
Audio, Alarm, Smoke detection etc
Fact sheet – During construction:
• Mass of goods delivered – 1207 Tons
• Volume of Goods delivered – 3202m³
• Total water usage per day – 8500L
• Staff compliment at Peak – 68
• Average local staff – 50%
• Area of vegetation cleared – Nil
• Average daily temperature – 30°c
• Average humidity – 80%
Delivery of goods to the island is an epic story in itself and will be covered in future news articles, the simplistic version is that goods were road hauled ex-factory to Port Elizabeth then shipped via Durban and on to Dar Es Salaam and after a lengthy port clearance containers were then loaded onto a 300ton barge/landing craft and delivered to the Island. The entire cycle ex-factory to Island averages 90 days so any delay, short delivery or breakage can be catastrophic to the progress of works on site, after years of refinement and experience, fortunately, this is our forte and based on careful planning and in-house system implementation we have these situations under total control.
Tanzania has a massive tidal range so timing the arrival of the barge at the island was critical bearing in mind that we had a 48 hours allowance for offloading and faced a USD 2000/ Day standing time penalty if we went over this time. At low tide, the barge would only get to within about 400m of the beach and considering we had no mechanical plant with all goods to be offloaded by hand we face a tense dilemma with every delivery.
The challenges with Thanda Island Villa
The first objective upon our arrival was to establish a fully serviced staff camp, this was carefully planned and all aspects including water and power systems were prefabricated in our factory with the most critical factor being the production of water on site. A small group of hardy T&B pioneers was sent up in advance and camped under the trees for the first two weeks while establishing the staff camp along with a desalination plant to provide water to the site. This was a massive feat considering that the site was handed over to us at the start of the Tanzanian monsoon season!
The site is currently well into construction with 16 containers loads of materials already dispatched and offloaded on the island, taking into account the lengthy delivery period to the island along with limited storage facilities on the island, accurate logistical planning is the ‘key’ to success on this project.
The expected completion date is February 2016
Progress reports following….