Staff Visit

We had a visit from Orion Preschool Staff #002 and Staff #003 today to check on the progress of the renovation works (#001 is reserved). Mrs Poh has visited a couple of times previously, but today is the first time that Aunty Chai Hong has the opportunity to view the inside of the premises.

Of greatest concern to Aunty Chai Hong is the kitchen, which will be where she spends most of the day preparing delicious meals for the children and teachers. After sweating for 23 years in the tight and stuffy confines of the kitchens of our old premises, we hope that the spacious kitchen here will meet with her approval. Mrs Poh, on the other hand, will now go home and dream of the layout for her classroom.

But our focus this week is getting the premises ready for fire safety certification. This means that the fire hosereel must be tested, and work on the fire escape staircase must be completed.

Yesterday, the workers finished up the fire hosereel installation by adding the hosereel box, thus completing the full works.

So today, under the watchful eyes of our architect, we conducted a test of the fire hosereel to verify that the water jet is able to meet the requirements laid down by SCDF. Success!

On Monday, the parts of the fire escape staircase were finally delivered to site. The metalwork people immediately proceeded to put them all together.

The upper section of the staircase is hoisted up inch by inch using a pulley.

The lower section is then carried over to its location by brute force.

Lots of alignment and welding later, we have a respectable-looking staircase with railings done up, and the staircase is more than halfway completed. Now the guys will just have to fix up the roofing overhead, and we can then get the entire premises certified for fire safety compliance.

Safety and Security

The IT Show that was held over the past few days gave us an opportunity to shop around for various electronic products. Security is one important aspect that we considered. In order to ensure that only authorised people are able to gain access to our indoor areas, we felt that it was necessary to have a system for access control.

There is a variety of access control systems, ranging from the basic card system to the more sophisticated facial recognition systems. We had to make sure that the system is suited for installing outdoors, even though there is some shelter extending out over the main entrance doorway.

We decided that a fingerprint recognition system will be more convenient than the card system, since no one ever forgets to bring their finger along with them. This unit allows up to 5000 individual fingerprints to be stored - more than enough for every child and their parents, grandparents, uncles and aunties...

Meanwhile, in a metal factory somewhere, the people who are building the staircase for us sent us a few photos to let us know that their work is coming along. Once the parts are ready, they will be transported over to the site for assembly, sometime this week.

Not all the components are instantly recognisable. There is no mistaking the stairs though.

And these are the side railings.

Strong foundations

Over the weekend, the concrete truck was called in to cast the base for the fire escape staircase. At the same time, the steel components of the staircase structure are being fabricated offsite at the workshop. Once they are ready, they will be transported here and assembled.

Previously, the demolition team had removed two sections of the external corridor where the foundation of the staircase will sit. Since then, that depression in the ground had been crying out to be filled.

The same section today, with the concrete hardened sufficiently. No chance of those irritating stray footprints here.

Since last week, the ceiling board people have also been installing the metal frames for the false ceiling progressively throughout various locations around the building, and all the toilets.

Once the frame is in place, they can then affix the ceiling boards over the grid.

And plaster over the boards to arrive at a smooth finish.

In the morning today, a set of windows and grilles appear mysteriously at the worksite.

Window people apparently only start work in the evening at 5pm. They appear suddenly from a truck and within moments, started fixing the frames onto the openings. This is the kitchen window from which Aunty will gaze out of dreamily while washing her utensils.

Applying sealant around the edges - N1 classroom window. And then just after 6pm the workers were quickly ushered off the premises by their foreman. It's great that they abide strictly by the authorities' timings for construction work. Guess they'll be back tomorrow for another hour of work then.