Mandala House Update 2

Despite adverse conditions brought about by monsoon rains, our tenacious team persevered to complete construction of the outer building. Here we outline recent progress made on project Mandala House.

Construction proper commenced in April, and due to the commitment of the construction and supervising teams, proceeded at a notable pace. With completion of tie beams, wall construction up to the ground floor, and plinth beam construction, the first phase of the build was completed in May.

Following approval of the Municipality site engineer, phase 2 (marked by the casting of the first floor slab and first floor columns) was completed in June. Progress was somewhat delayed during July due to the start of the monsoon rains. However, due to the tenacity and unwavering determination of the construction team, the outer building was completed at the start of August, allowing the team to progress with internal work (such as internal wall construction and window & door installation) unaffected by prevailing weather conditions.

Perseverance of construction team saw completion of phase 2 of the project in June of this year.

Completion of the Mandala House project was set for October/November of this year (and this may still be true given the rate at which construction has progressed), with friend of the charity David Rivers (who has extensive experience in the field of construction) set to visit the project in November to assess the building. That said, there is currently no plumbing or electrics installed in the building and no construction has begun on top of the 2nd floor. There are no windows or doors and no final rendering or landscaping. Our initial estimation for time of completion for the project assumed a constant build, with no slowing down for the monsoon (it varies year to year) and this year has been much wetter than usual. With this is mind, once the monsoon season is over, Suman and Subash will reassess the timeline, with construction possibly continuing into Spring 2025.

Following persevering through adverse monsoon conditions, the construction team completed the outer building of Mandala House, allowing them to begin work on the inner walls and installation of the window and door frames.

We will continue to keep you up-to-date on the remaining phases of the project over the coming months. If you would like to make a contribution as we bring the project to completion, we welcome your on-going support.