Part 2; September 07
Lured back by the desire to select kitchen fittings and floor & kitchen tiles before the warm weather declined, we made a return in September. It proved to be a fascinating visit.
Progress, what progress?
We
stayed at Riverside Holiday Village again which is very convenient for visiting
our new apartment. At the first opportunity, we were round to inspect and found
ourselves somewhat disappointed at progress. Basically, the brickwork had been
finished but, in truth, there is very little brickwork. The plumbers were active
in the apartment at the time installing the pipe work.
Adjusting to realities!
If we had doubts about the completion date set for end of 2007, they were now fully confirmed. Phase 2 is the biggest phase with nine blocks of six apartments, 54 in all. While you might like to think they are working on your own place, in reality all 54 apartments are at some state of progression. At this stage there are no site roads, no water, electricity or sewerage installed, all this comes right at the end when all the nine blocks are complete. This is a complete reversal of the building process in the UK where the drains, sewerage and basic roads are laid first.
It seemed to us that there was no point in speculating about a completion date or even pressing the builder, it was better to 'go with the flow'. We have lived in these societies and know they have a dynamics of there own. Everything seems to get there in the end so there is little to be gained by anticipating any sort of date and feeling disappointed when is doesn't happen.
Shopping, shopping, shopping
Choosing our fittings provided us with quite a fun day. A lady
architect from the builders office took us through the various
choices starting with the kitchen units. The wall and floor units were easily
selected since there were some pleasing options. The choice of kitchen work
surfaces was fine but we had set our hearts on granite. This was available at an
extra charge, £95 sq m for our choice it turned out. The cost of the granite
depended on the selection and there was a huge choice of different colours. Ours
is difficult to describe, it's not dark but offers a subtle mix of colours with
greys, black, mustard and cream all in there somewhere.
lord & master right on study balcony
Next we were off to the actual suppliers to select tiles for the floor and bathroom walls and bathroom fittings. It was fairly easy to choose within the standard range without moving towards more expensive options. We chose the same non-slip tile for the whole floor area. Having seen some of the apartments where the bathroom floor tiles were different from the rest, it seemed to break the flow and somehow lose harmony. The wall tiles offer enough contrast although we avoided strong colours. In the kitchen the wall tiles had to blend with the granite work tops. All in all, it was a fun day!
Hello Mr Sparks
Our
next request was for extra power sockets. The standard number of sockets is
quite generous but we plan to use the 3rd bedroom as an office so thought it
would be useful to have extra sockets installed ready. Some of the sockets are
fitted as singles so we requested doubles everywhere and we wanted an extra
light in the bathroom. So a plan of the apartment was produced and we marked
crosses here and there to indicate the location of the extra sockets. Just by
chance, we met the lady architect on site a few days later and she promptly
brought the electrician along to us and asked us to show the electrician exactly
where we wanted our extra sockets. He simple marked the walls with red paint
where indicated.
It felt like real progress and our September visit well timed.
Part 2a; December 07
It is some years since we have spent Christmas at home, we usually head off to Algarve but this year we decided to experience the winter weather in North Cyprus and, of course, watch developments on our apartment.
Progress was better than expected considering the relatively
short time we had been away. As we left in September, it was Sugar Byram, a
major holiday. Many of the workers on the site are from mainland Turkey and they
went home. Instead of the three days holiday, they stretch it out to a couple of
weeks and some don't return, apparently.
Deserted!
On our first visit we found the site virtually deserted! There is a second Byram, the Meat Byram, which started about 19th December. The Turks might not celebrate Christmas but they do celebrate New Year. Again, the majority had disappeared home and were unlikely to return until into the New Year.
Progress!
The progress from September was quite remarkable. The block
had been plastered inside and outside, as the picture above
shows
(the yellow block belongs to the completed phase 1). Internally too, there were
signs of progress. The electrical wiring runs through plastic conduits laid on
the floor as do the water pipes.
All these pipes are covered first with concrete and finally a self-levelling
floor covering all ready for tiling.
Work had started too on the large swimming pool in the centre and that was well under construction. On the next visit planned for spring we hope to see some tiles down. Most of the early blocks on this phase are now virtually complete awaiting only final fittings.
Phase 1(right)
Phase 1 is looking really good with the completion of the entrance but it was interesting talking to some of the residents. Apparently there is no public lighting on site because North Cyprus has run out of meters! This is also delaying people from moving in which must be really frustrating. The meters come from the UK and there is a new shipment awaited.
On each visit we learn more of the process. It seems we have register our property at some stage to get an address and apply for our electricity and water meter. Both these service are laid to the door but the final connection is our responsibility. All this is in store and probably more.
There will be further comment after our spring visit in 2008. Again, if anybody is interested in following in our footsteps or buying one of these properties do email us.
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