Day 7: The finished product.

Day 7: The finished product.

Day 7: All the students were happy with the finished product and seemed to enjoy the experience.

Day 7: Louis was well pleased with our work and told us about a horticulturalist was coming to site next week to plant the rest of the pallets.

Day 7: We fixed all the pallets to the wall and had a few arguments about the position of the boxes beneath them. We tested planting on one pallet and planted Violets, Pansies and strawberry plants to see how they would grow in the pallet.

Day 7: With 4 more remaining pallets and the smaller boxes left to attach on the wall, today was the last day on site to finish everything off. We disassembled the last pallet that wouldn’t fit on the wall, creating three more flower boxes. Quality checks were needed throughout and a few alterations to the pallets were needed once they were on the wall, so the students were learning how to solve problems on the spot. All the shelves were filled with soil and the dpm was trimmed for us to present the finished product to Louis at the end of the day.

Day 6: We managed to attached 6 pallets on the wall today. It was hard work but everyone was in good spirits at the end of the day.

Day 6: Disaster struck when we didn’t have the correct size drill bit, so an emergency trip to B&Q was in order yet again to buy new drill bits. As we have may have forgotten to mention we only had one drill. The team also made a start on clearing the rest of the garden, which Louis wants to develop in the future.

Day 6: As temperatures rose and the pallet continued to go up on the wall, it was realised that a few pallets would be left over and unused. With the remaining pallets and spare planks of wood the team then tested out making small flower boxes and were able to create 3 new boxes. Then it was up to some of the team to line the shelves with leftover DPM and fill them with soil, as well as cut down the excess DPM.

Day 6: Konrad later supervised this labour and continued to disseminate the process to the rest of the group. Whilst this was happening, we had to attach the DPM underlay. Then lift the pallet into place and check it was level, before drilling with the masonry drill and then screwing the pallet into place.

Day 6: Yesterday had been a hot and enduring day and Konrad had decided he was a pirate. Progress continued on site of the Miners, with four pallets left to reconstruct so that the group can proceed to attaching the pallets to the wall. Assistance was provided from Dave the Jack of all trades who told us how to attach the reconstructed pallets to the wall.

Day 5: Today we finished seven pallets in different designs, meaning we have four more to complete tomorrow.

Day 5: We gave the wood an oil based spray to waterproof the pallets.

Day 5
The pallets needed additional planks to establish a base and provide support at the back that will allow the DPM to be fixed onto the plank. The existing nails on the planks also needed to be removed.

Day 5
Today it was all hands on deck as we prefabricated the pallets ready to be attached to the wall of the miner’s club when Dave arrives on site tomorrow.
We firstly split up into small groups to start assembling each pallet based on the design details and plans we worked out last week. The first task involved removing the planks in the incorrect place, as well as obtaining planks from unusable pallets, which could then be attached to the useable pallets in order to create a deeper shelf unit to support plant growth.

Day 4

Day 4: Today we performed a lot of group design reviews which taught us about the need of good communication within the team. The crucial was making sure that the pallets were able to take on the desired planting and the design reviews proved useful achieving that.

Day 4: The group started off by splitting into interrelated tasks, among them working out 1:1 wall connection details, different methods of the exact assembly of particular pallets. Material library was also being updated, planting schedules were being worked up in coordination of the pallet design. The overall wall elevation worked up in conjunction with previously mentioned tasks.

Day 4: Forced back into the University building with unbearable weather conditions and constraints of site accessibility due to an occurring anti-fascist punk festival we worked up the details of the green wall components.

Day 3 - Disassembling Pallets

Day 3 -
We held a design charette in two teams to discuss a design for the pallet green wall based on our previous site investigations. This meeting was disrupted by having to relocate. Everyone drew a proposed elevation which we then discussed as a group, subsequently allowing us to develop a proposed design for the green wall which was an amalgamation of our discussion.

Day 3- Testing positioning of the pallet on site

Day 3 - Sharing is caring
We then had a discussion with Dave, the local tradesman who offered his skills to us to demonstrate how to fix the pallets onto the brick wall. This was our chance to exchange building knowledge’s which we identified as one of the aims of our event. He informed us about the need for a DPM to be fixed between the wall and the pallets, as well as the appropriate screws to use on the fixings.

Day 3 - Why does it always rain on me
Today we were all based on site at the miner’s, working with the pallets we acquired yesterday. We started the day with another delivery of 20 bags of soil from Anwar, so it was all hands on deck to unload the van. Then we had to catalogue the pallets and split them into useable whole ones and ones, which were rotted that, were to be cut up for parts, so then the team set out dismantling these pallets.

Day 2: The schedule of events was slightly disturbed by the van hire - which took longer than expected. Once Shaun, the man with the van, acquired the van, himself, Leo, Zohir & Jess were off collecting pallets and bags of soil from all around Manchester in the sun, wind, rain and snow. They acquired 20 pallets and 20 bags of soil from a friendly vegetable grower in Longsight.

Day 2: The material library group was set in studio continuing with producing the catalogue. The tasks were split between people finalising the 3D drawings and others putting them together. Members of the outreach material gathering who were not involved in the transport joined the former team on producing precise survey drawings of the site and gathering information about the possible production outputs. This involved precedent analysis and finding more necessary materials for the build.

Day 1: The group focusing on acquiring the materials from outside searched for people with surplus materials and started going out to get them. Realising that the vehicle required wasn’t big enough for transporting pallets, this group also focused on securing a van ready to go the next day.

Day 1: The group staying at the Miners was responsible for setting up a material library, which consisted of producing a precise survey of the items found and drawing them up in 3D ready to design with in conjunction with other materials found by the outreach group. The group was given a precedent of such practice by Al Borde arquitectos based in Ecuador who consistently make their living and community projects happen by their rigorous approach to dealing with disused materials.

Day 1: Following an introduction and the brief for Moston Miners Community Arts and Music Centre from Louis Beckett, the group was split into two teams, one acquiring surplus materials from outside the Moston Miners and the other looking for what’s available on site.

Group 24 First Meeting

Group 24 - Events Schedule

Group 24 - Risk Assessment

For more info about what we do go on socio-spatial.org.

Shaun Jenkins, Ayomide Karim, Jessica Spencer and Konrad Koltun