Billy Dunn

Articles Tagged with: Billy Dunn

13 March, 2010

Bye Bye Billy

Arkitrek’s first volunteer Billy arrived in September 2009 for a three month stint working at the Borneo Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC). Originally due to go home at Christmas, the bears got their claws into Billy and he ended up staying an extra two months. Finally though the day came when we had to say good bye and thanks. Billy’s outstanding contribution was to the design of the next phase visitor centre and to the volunteer program that Arkitrek helps to manage on behalf of BSBCC.

To date the Bear Action Teams (BATS) have seen over 300 participants contributing to sun bear conservation and environmental awareness. Billy’s role was to design projects for the volunteers, organise logistics and supervise the volunteers themselves. A muddy and at times frustrating role, for volunteers need cunning cajoling. Never the less I think it’s fair to say that all the volunteers and Billy have gone away with a sense of satisfaction and enthusiasm for the conservation of wild things and wild places. You’re all welcome back any time.

Billy helped design a system of counterbalanced shutters and sliding doors to provide varying levels of security, enclosure and ventilation for the proposed visitor centre. The construction technology is based on the bear cages.

Bridge designed by Bob Renshaw, construction supervision by Billy Dunn and construction by Raleigh volunteers.

%RELATEDPOSTS%

27 November, 2009

Sepilok Poo Burner

Text by Billy Dunn
Photos by Billy Dunn and Ian Hall

The construction of the biogas digester at the new Sun Bear Conservation Centre in Sepilok took a bit of time to get running and underway but after ten days of hard building, pumping, lifting, grafting, sweating, itching, bleeding, plastering, twisting, bending and cutting, it was an impressive achievement thanks to the volunteers from Camps International.

After arriving in Sepilok the initial tasks facing the group were not too exciting or enjoyable but hard labour and exhausting work! We started by moving 1500 bricks from outside to inside the site, which involved a lot of timber planks, deep clay resembling a battlefield full of water and wheelbarrows with punctured wheels…not a good combination for moving bricks!

To follow, the excavated location on site for the digester was full of water. After trying to convince the girls that bailing the water out with buckets all day was the only solution, the contractors, having seen their faces, gladly lent us their pump and the water was gone soon enough.

Once the site was clean and dry, the concrete platform was revealed beneath the water and leaves. We then moved a third of the bricks down our own hand made steps, carved out from the clay, and into the centre of the circle, only to realise that the centre of the circle was actually required to draw and mark out the circular footprint for the bricks! After a brief re-location, to the girl’s delight of course, we laid out the first course. With a quick lesson in the art of bricklaying by leader Howard, we quickly learnt that bricklaying was indeed an art and not as easy as maybe expected previously!

We soon developed an effective production line of sand/cement mixing, water collecting, concrete mixing, bucket filling and distributing down the steps to the site. This was all being done in sticky wet clay, hot, humid conditions and with every builder working in Sepilok staring at our every move. Well I say “our” every move, as lovely as Matt and I are, I’m pretty sure it had something to do with all the girls working on site! The builders’ entertainment eventually turned to frustration with our bricklaying skills and they soon joined us down in the pit. A solid afternoon’s work with the contractors got us back on track and we were soon motoring on with the construction.

The arrival of the remainder of the group brought an injection of enthusiasm, plus the skills of their leaders Mann and Zul. Our initial attempts to build the dome for the digester were not as successful as we maybe first thought. Despite it being our first experience bending metal bars into circles and arcs, we were relatively happy and satisfied with our efforts. That is until Mann took one look at it and worked his magic! His construction experience was clear to see as he took our “dome” apart and began amending our “arches” into curved things of beauty! When re-attached and covered with steel mesh, the finished dome was an impressive sight.

The moment of truth came when the dome was placed onto the brick structure to find out how well it would fit. It sat perfectly and the steel circular rings were attached using the vertical metal rods bedded in between the double skin of bricks. A hard mornings work then began when the inside face of the dome was plastered, a very messy and tiring job but one that was achieved successfully in one go. To complete the group’s work, the outside face was then plastered in the afternoon and covered with damp blankets.

Without the efforts and hard grafting by the volunteers, the biofuel digester would still be a large pond on site. The group made great progress in the ten days and should be proud of the efforts! On behalf of BSBCC, I would like to thank Camps International for their contribution, as their work here will always be seen and felt by the centre for years to come.

%RELATEDPOSTS%

11 November, 2009

Builders: Britain vs. Malaysia

Text and photos by Billy Dunn

When Ian asked me to write a piece for the blog about my first experiences living and working in Sabah, Borneo, I initially thought of the obvious cultural differences; food, drink, climate, wildlife etc. These of course are all very interesting and important…

…but in order to give my own unique view so far on Sabah that would provide something a bit light-hearted to think about, I have decided to write about a topic I experience everyday…builders.

It is interesting to make you aware that this is in fact my first experience of working on a building site. During my working year out from studying Architecture back in the UK I never left the office so my first encounter with working alongside builders has occurred here in Sepilok! Whether this is a good or bad introduction to the daily life of a construction site remains to be seen!

To paint the picture I’m going to compare the general rules and stereotypical habits of builders in the UK to the builders here, who in fact originate from the Philippines.

Imagine this process in Britain; The builders are arranging the reinforcement bars and formwork for the concrete roof tie beams. They would have big, sturdy, steel toe caps boots on, wearing helmets and high visibility vests and standing on a carefully erected scaffolding platform, probably attached to a harness. They would be wearing gloves and would overall be secure in the job they were participating in.

Now imagine this in Sabah; The builder’s protection on their feet (if any) is flip flops. I haven’t actually seen a helmet since I have been here. The only thing they wear on their heads are large sombreros. The scaffolding platform they are clambering up and balancing on top of is swaying with every swing of the hammer they take. The closest thing to a safety harness they have seems to be a cigarette in their mouth as no-one would dare be up there without one. It also seems to help them balance. So imagine a builder two storeys up; he is swinging away at the nails whilst puffing away on his fag and carefully balancing in his flip flops which are almost falling off his feet, all whilst on top of the jelly scaffolding!

So this was my first impression of construction. I initially watched every move with horror waiting for something to go wrong but I have now become fascinated with the way they work.

On a typical British building site there are heavy rules about no children allowed on site. Here, there are not only children on site, but they are actually the builder’s daughters! One of the girls, who can’t be any older than 5, quite freely walks around the nails and bits of stray material, barefoot, beneath the scaffolding. If she gets a little bored she’ll pick up a hammer and start nailing something, all in the proud eye of her father!

In Britain, the use of heavy machinery is a serious responsibility. In Sepilok, on a Sunday afternoon with the family watching and in between using the bucket for distributing concrete to be poured for the tie beams, the excavator becomes a serious piece of fun. The two guys, rather than climb back down the wobbly scaffolding, calmly jump into the bucket and hold on tightly to be dropped and raised spectacularly like a rollercoaster. The driver has his headphones in listening to music by the way, but the smiles on their faces was worth all the safety issues of course.

Welding should be approached using a protective mask as exposure to the glare can damage the eyes. Here, I’m still scratching my eyes in amazement (no pun…) wondering if any welders here can see. One particular welder must enjoy the overall itchy, irritable blind sensation as he sits wearing sun glasses with his face a foot away from the new bear cages being welded.

At home, if we get a spell of bright weather, the typical builder loses his top to expose his pasty white belly and “builders crack.” The radio from the van is blaring out and the Sun Newspaper is being thrown around. All of this is in fact the opposite here. With the constant hot conditions, a majority of the builders like to cover up completely from the sun. This involves long tight sleeves, long skinny jeans and usually a t shirt wrapped around his head with a pair of sunglasses, all in 35 degrees of heat. There are no radios required as the Philippine guys enjoy singing their hearts out whilst on site; we’ve had everything from Janet Jackson to the Beatles.

From all these comparisons there are two characteristics British and Malaysian builders have in common.

The first involves females. It is in fact in the small print of builders’ rights that at any stage should a member of the opposite sex come into sight, then all work can pause. During the construction of the Biogas Digester on site, we had eight female volunteers from Camps International. Before the girls could pick up a brick I realised that the eyes of three sets of builders were directed at them; the guys working directly next to us, a group near the gate working on the new orang-utan nursery and another at the top of the hill. All tools were laid down, wheelbarrows dumped and engines switched off to admire the girls! Unlike the British way of approaching girls, there were no wolf-whistling or sexist comments but simply a calm stare!

The second is to enjoy riding in vans. Any opportunity to hop in the van to go somewhere is gladly received. Here you have the added bonus that more can fit on the back of the truck with one hand holding onto the roof and the other waving goodbye to the girls. The dashboard of your van must also be filled with old newspapers, used drinks cartons and any invoices that were supposed to be given.

Above all I would like to stress that working with the local builders is a pleasure. They always have a smile on their face, will always greet you and say goodbye and will share any English they know with you. Through all the tricky conditions they face, they get on with their work to a high level and all for a very minimal wage. They also gladly get involved with helping the sun bear volunteers when they can see we’re struggling and are happy to share their knowledge and tools.

I will write a sequel to this blog one day once I have experienced all this through the British builder’s perspective!

%RELATEDPOSTS%

1 January, 2008

Billy Dunn

Billy Dunn
School: University of Dundee
Placement: Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre
Year: 2009

The first volunteer coming straight from graduating with his Masters of Architecture from the University of Dundee, Billy set the standard high. He spent 3 months with BSBCC in Sepilok. As well as designing bear feeding trays and biogas digesters, Billy loved helping out with the bears and providing enrichment for them.
Check out his thoughts of Sabah in his blog post:
http:/arkitrek.com/builders-britain-vs-malaysia/