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| View of resort from restaurant |
We've had some torrential rain and spectacular electrical storms in Cyprus the last 2 weeks of October and into early November. The rain is unusual as October is usually the finest month for weather of the whole year. Dominic was in Cyprus on a family holiday and he took the opportunity to join us for the Monthly Progress Meeting on 3rd November. He was surprised, again, at the speed with which The Grove Spa Resort is taking shape, having not visited the site for 3 months.
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| Space for utilities on the roof |
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| D-block & restaurant with basement slab under construction |
Blocks B and G are substantially ahead of programme, Blocks C, D and E are on schedule and we are still catching up on the slight delay to Blocks A and H as well as the general pool area. The roof of C-block has now been tiled with a large space in the middle to house the hot water systems and air conditioning compressors, minimising the visual impact. The slab roof of the basement between blocks D and E is almost closed up, giving a much better idea of the finished look of that area. GCC is delaying finishing the slab by a few days as a group of civil engineering students is visiting the site to see how this kind of construction happens in practice.
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| E & F-bock & basement slab Nov 3 2009 |
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| Roof garden screed prepped for tiles |
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| Consultant & contractor inspection |
There are changes to the plans every time we visit and this time we made a decision to combine the space of the TV room and games room in the basement to make a much bigger and more flexible space. This means it can also be used as a meeting or seminar room for visiting groups as well as host a much bigger audience for those all-important international sports matches. Within the apartments we changed the halogen downlighters in the living / dining rooms to LED strip lights that will be located above the feature ceiling to provide much more environmentally-friendly mood lighting.
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| LED lights for living room recessed ceiling |
For the outdoors, we worked on the tennis court and yoga platform designs and we are now working with the owner of the development next door to provide significantly improved amenities for the whole village. Instead of us both building a children's playground on the green area, we are looking at how we can best use the combined space together.
| | Dominic & Claire the interior designer | |
Jonathan and Joanne spent a lot of time working on furniture options, both for owners and for the common areas, such as the Spa, reception and rooftop bar and Jon and I spent many hours with Claire Chrysostomou, the interior designer, finalising every detail of the finishes for the Spa, including the design features of the hydrotherapy area and the equipment for the reception area.
An interesting development for me personally was my adoption of Buddy, the Brittany Spaniel. Or maybe I should say his adoption of me. Found bedraggled under a hedge after a particularly dramatic storm and left unclaimed for 2 weeks, I have now adopted him and am working on getting his pet passport to bring him back to UK next summer. What a gorgeous little fellow he is!While I have returned to the gales and deluges of a British winter, Jonathan remains in Cyprus for a week of sunshine, DIY and sprucing up of his personal properties, preparing them for the winter. The final Progress Meeting of the year will be on 11th December.
