Continuing the sail in new troubled waters.....
By Wilson Ang a.k.a ShamU on Monday, June 18, 2007 at 11:39 AM
During the Ecofriend Award on Thursday, the Singapore Science Centre’s (SSC) number 2, Mr Clarence Sirisena, had agreed to allow us to build the ECO House on their land. Though we were already in the midst of discussions, this helps to affirm the commitment of the SSC.We had a very fruitful meeting on Saturday. Everyone in the team was hyped up over the new source of "support" we are getting from various avenues. And to top that, we will be working to have a company that recycled chipped wood to sponsor our flooring and walls!
And Wee Chang has managed to have his wine company fully sponsor their wine crates for us to build the interior of the ECO House. Well done!
The meeting went great and we delegated tasks accordingly. And all is set to go once we get the money in on Friday! The next thing I had to settle was the EXACT location of in the ECO House within the SSC grounds. The team preferred it to be in the ECO Garden with the grass instead of on a concrete floor, so that it will have a greener feel when we grow the green walls and roofs. Good idea! Let's cross fingers we get it from SSC.
The next thing we had to settle was to have a presentable plaque to present to our CONFIRMED Jap Sponsor Co This would be ECO’s very first plaque ever presented to a corporate. But it is good! We should do something really presentable to appreciate their support in this initiative. And so we had to have something that looks really good. We want them to feel we sincerely appreciate their contribution.
So went shopping around...And finally! After 3 days of hunting and searching at various shops and looking at different designs, we (or at least I) finally found one that looked really presentable. Once it is done, will post a picture of it here. :)
When all seemed smooth sailing, a new piece of news fell on our lap. The cost of steel had gone up and so did concrete. What we had factored on as 60K for the basic structure is now up to at least 75K. And we needed to rework the specifications a little to have it at that price.
So our sums were initially:
1. 20k for the PV installation.
2. 60k for basic structure.
3. 10K for the green roofings
4. 10k for the retrofitting of the Green walls, Rainwater harvesting system
So the 100K at least allowed us to cover the basic building costs.
Now with the basic structure up to 75k, we have a major problem. We need more funding.
I was thinking about sharing with the CONFIRMED Jap. Co about our situation, but was advised that they might think we are pulling a fast one. So I guess an alternative here now is to find more money.
New troubled waters it is...but we sail on, sail forward. Let's get the building going, the main structure up and we can work the rest out along the way.
Meeting up with the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) tomorrow, hopefully we can get some level of support from there. Or at least some advice.
Towards new fronts! Staying focused to make sure this gets going forward! :)
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